Я проработала 31 год в одной из крупнейших нефтяных компаний,но не в ЮКОСе. Сейчас я не хочу ничего писать о Ходорковском. Я могу только сказать одно,что так ВАРВАРСКИ добывать нефть,как делали и делают все российские компании и потом пытаться выжить на этом,это подписать приговор не только Ходорковскому ,а и всей стране

Воровал не один Ходорковский, и пока был удобен ему позволяли воровать.
Потом наверное его амбиции возросли и он решил, что созрел для политики. На что и получил то что получил, Карательная система разорила его империю.
Что хотел Хоторковский никто не узнает, а вот Путин испугался конкурента и правильно сделал. Посмотрел на сто шагов вперед, что может случиться при распределении власти.
И судя по тем действиям и той политике, что он провел в жизнь, коррупция, развал всего, казнокрадство и все те ужасы, что сейчас происходят в Росси это все происходит с молчаливого согласия Путина. Страшный человек!
Мне бы хотелось спросить, что изменилось в лучшую сторону для простых россиян за время царствования Путина?
И прав был Рамон, когда говорил, что он ненавидит систему Путина

That's strange .
I have got through immediately from the Ecology Topic .
Has some genius solved the problems?
I must go out for a spot of business but now am eager to return and see whether this success can be repeated .

But just enough time to shout out , Free the poor man , you megalomaniac Putrid .
What a farce that trial was . The judge was as bent as a corkscrew and simply ignored the defence trial evidence .
The trial was more  of a disgrace  and farce than I suspect most of you realise .It was pure Kafka .

Keep smiling you naughty girls .

At the level of judging MK on the charges against him , the whole affair is absurd .
Before you start spitting blood , there are other circumstances ,  which you are unlikely to have detailed knowledge about , which gives the whole matter a very different perspective .
At the literal level , Putin behaved terribly when he ordered the wrecking of Yukos and had MK arrested in October of 2003 .
Putin had made it quite clear to all so called Oligarchs that they could hold on to their wealth PROVIDED they return a share back into Russia and provided they did not interfere in domestic matters with their wealth .
Putin slapped a $27 billion tax bill on Yukos but froze all their assets to ensure that the tax could not be paid . If this was not bad enough ,he then stage -managed auctions of the company assets which themselves  were dishonest in intent and practise . The various parts of the Yukos company were  then taken at silly prices by various oil companies owned by the State and therefore available for wholesale ransacking by the inner circle and , of course , by the already billionaire  Putin himself .
At this level of simple fact , the matter had become disgraceful in countries just attempting simple efforts  to operate by the Rule of Law and in ways which take note of Human Rights .
As for the trial itself , this was pure  farce -- made all the more ridiculous by the inept preparation of the charges under the usual hopeless direction of the FSB .In a nutshell  , the case resolved itself into the charge that money was siphoned by selling " cheap" oil but  which incredibly --- according to the prosecution ---- accounted for more than the total production of every barrel of oil produced  by the company . Clever people were unable to do simple sums of addition .
As a result ,  the internationally respected Auditors said that the charges were absolute nonsense and completely absurd .At that point it was "impossible " for the charges to be proved . Except in Russia where the facts were just ignored .

So the question now is , why did Putin's temper run ahead so hopelessly versus the requirements of sense and discretion .
The answer is that he believed  , with  possibly considerable good reason  , that MK intended to win the 2004 Presidential race , however far fetched that target may have  seemed then or now  .
You now have to go back to 1998 when MK had problems with the authorities in the US when he was accused of indiscretions involving the Republic Bank of New York . He was found Not Guilty but it was at that time that it became clear that he had built a power base which included some very powerful and influential Americans .
The likely scenario is that he cut some sort of understanding  with the US .
What is known definitely is that he set up the Open Russian Foundation and successfully invited Henry Kissinger and Lord Jacob Rothschild to sit on the Board . He developed ties with the most powerful circles in Washington where he was named to the advisory board of the secret private equity firm , Carlyle Group , where he attended Board meetings alongside people like George H.W. Bush ( senior ) and James Baker .
But the matter that incensed Putin the most was the information  allegedly given to him ,  that MK was the nominal leader of a US backed coup d'etat to capture the presidency through the '04 Duma elections .And , of course , at that time he had the wealth to be capable of such an achievement  at least in principle .
And if that was not enough , it was alleged that MK planned to sell 40% of Yukos to either Chevron or Exxon Mobil .

Now , in civilised countries you can only be judged a guilty person on the basis of the precise charges laid against you . As a dramatic example , we can pretend that Stalin was brought to trial ,  but ,  because of lack of evidence ,  he could only be charged of the death of one person . If found Not Guilty on that one charge , it is not  then possible to turn round and say he is still Guilty because of other matters . That is laughable . But not in Russia .
So what is the conclusion ?
My view -- and I am bending over to try and be balanced  , is this :-
On the charges actually brought against him --- essentially money laundering --- he is Not Guilty because the Court did not come within a million miles of proving anything .
Therefore , at the level of Rule of Law , he should have never been gaoled for even one day .
But there were charges that have never been brought to court which, if true , amount to Treason .
The question is , do we believe this circumstantial evidence or , on the balance of probabilities , do we think that this represents standard Russian disinformation ?
Nobody on this Forum -- including me -- knows the answer to this last question .
Nevertheless , I will give you my  considered opinion , knowing that you as Russians  have effectively been obliged to see MK as the Evil face of modern Russia :-
I do not believe MK is a saint .I think the whole culture of Russia demands that anybody who is successful knows how to cheat and even use violence . The system is so corrupt and the pressures are so great , that even Jesus would only have lasted about 10 minutes .
Nevertheless , I believe MK was a more sanitised and improved version of Putin and his cronies . I think he genuinely wanted to  do  considerable good and use  much his wealth in ways which the present leaders choose to totally ignore .
As such , he could have been a huge step forward for Russia and could have been a figure of remarkable Historical impact .
However ,  he was either naive or simply underestimated his opponent -- the craftiest and most corrupt figure in modern Russia .
Putin simply protected what he thinks is his by some divine right . As with Litvinenko , Politkovskaya , Georgia and Smolensk -- to name but a few -- he acted without due care and diligence .
Anybody thinking that the US was involved in some sort of old style revolution is sadly out of touch . No sane power would ever want to invade Russia -- despite the niceness of ordinary people and the good aspects of your country . The days where you invaded with Armies into other huge power bases have gone . Rather , the US envisaged a mission which , for the sake of argument , is the Georgia situation multiplied many times . In modern terms a coup is measured in terms of widespread political co-operation , trade and finance .
Frankly I could think of one or two disadvantages for Russian people if this had happened  , but I can think of countless reasons why I would not  wish the present status quo to remain . But I am not so short sighted that I cannot see that the idea of the US part directing Russian affairs is not going to receive any support  from ordinary mother country loving Russians .
Nevertheless , I would still end by saying that MK  , who is clearly a very talented individual  , would have given the US much less than they thought they would get after he had achieved political power .
But that is conjecture and hypothetical and therefore of limited interest .
As a final thought I believe that even if Putin was right about what he believed Mk was planning , he went about solving his problem childishly and in a very amateur way .He thought in old fashioned KGB terms in a world which has changed more than he probably realises . And in terms of his behaviour's consequences he has done tremendous damage to his country and beyond the language of money --- confidence , belief and trust .

I fail to see the importance of this in the MBKh context. Are you alleging that Russia would have been in the top twenty positions, had this guy been allowed to run free?

Under Putin's rule, the investment into Russia more than doubled (125% extra, according to http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20080301/100381963.html). The GDP of Russia surpassed that of the RSFSR. The economy of Russia is within the top 10 world economies. Decent salaries and pensions are paid. The Germans and Brits are horrified at the influx of Russian tourists to the resorts they once thought were theirs only. These are all verifiable and veritable facts.

On the other hand, those "investment safety" ranking reports placed Iceland and Spain firmly at the top just a few years ago. They are purely and simply laughable, distorted figments of surreal imagination.

Russia's peace keeping forces, stationed there in accord with international agreements, were assaulted by Georgia.  This was an act of war, to which Russia had no option but respond. The absurdity of that event rests plainly with Georgia.