Pravda, in a slighly incoherent article (and it's not just the translation), attempts to describe the Russian Central Bank's hotlist of terror-related organizations and accounts. Central Bank officials are listening spellbound to UN officials. Yet, it deems that the UN believes that Chechen guerrillas are anything but terrorists. That is why there is no Russian firm or a Chechen mob on the list of people and organizations that back up terrorism. However, there are 21 Spaniards on it, one Philippine, the New People’s Party (Philippines), and 74 members of the Taliban movement. It is very curious that the list does not mention either Osama bin Laden or his Al-Qaeda. Central Bank’s friends from New York might not like that.
Furthermore, it turns out that Russian bank laws do not allow to say no to a client, if he or she wishes to open an account in Sberbank, for instance. Both Osama bin Laden and Charles Manson will be welcome. It just so happens that Russian banks cannot freeze suspicious person’s accounts. Therefore, the official list of the Central Bank is virtually a fake. Even Pravda admits that this isn't some sort of Russian perfidy, but mere Soviet-style ineptitude. A hundred years from now, when the War on Terror is in the same category as the memory of the Maine, little things like this will be long forgotten. For now, my eyes are tired from all that rolling. |