--- Ok, this is interesting in more than just the obvious ways.
On January 9th, when the sale was announced, I wrote:
The best possible option here would be for Putin to make a deal with
one of the oligarchs and have them buy the stuff for the Hermitage in
St. Petersburg, and then we could all see it again. But it won't
happen. Putin' doesn't have enough cash in the treasury to compete with
the other buyers at this sale, and it's not like he's going to give the
oligarchs any ground with which to strengthen their position. It's a
shame. The Hermitage is where that collection belongs.
Well, I was wrong. Can you believe that? (Heheheheh) Putin made a deal!
I suspect we won't ever know any of the specifics, but heh! He's a
crafty guy. I think Vekselberg is going to get a big ass break on his
taxes. And perhaps, if Putin's in a good mood, maybe he won't have his
ass thrown in jail. And don't think Vekselberg did this out of the
goodness of his heart. Tch. I don't think so. He didn't become an
oligarch in a country where the business world is best seen as the
Colliseum and businessmen are seen as lion's meat. It's kill or be
killed in Russia---and killing, in this situation, depending upon how
naive you are, can either be a metaphor or the real thing---it just
depends upon how much you want to know and what you would prefer to
ignore. Now, I wonder what this means in terms of the Khodorkovsky
debacle? What is this meant to teach Khodorkovsky? It's my way or the highway? or You see, I can be a reasonable man. Why not just give me what I want?
I don't know. I suspect we won't ever know, media coverage of Putin
being what it is. Interesting nonetheless. The sort of story that makes
the imagination run rampant.
--- It's not dripping in the office today because it's 1 degree outside
and cloudy. The sun's not out to muck things up. So, while I have a
temporary reprieve from the dripping, we still don't have phone
service. The Qwest people have repeatedly assured us, however, that
we're on the list and that someone should be out to fix the problem
today. Tip for Qwest customers: Pay the $3.95 a month for the
Linebacker option. This is saving us hundreds of dollars in repair
charges. It could save you, too, trouble down the line. Think of it as
an installment plan. We've had this for six years, have never been
covered under it before---but this time we are. And here I had just
been toying with the notion of getting rid of it. Glad I didn't. ---
Tip for the Day II: If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, where it
gets below 32 degrees on a regular basis, it's a good thing to know
that potting soil that has been sitting in an unheated garage all
winter long will
freeze, just like the dirt in the yard. Didn't even think about this
when I went to transplant a house plant this morning. Found out
differently when the husband told me. Yes, I am an idiot. {/idiot}
--- How much you want to bet they're going to blame this on America?
My favorite Oscar Wilde quote: America and England are two countries separated by a common language.
I still can't quote Shakespeare to save my life. Thank God for it, but
that's a discussion best left for another day.