Re: Roy Medvedev interview (on Putin)

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Chris Doss wrote:

"You'd better make some attempt to understand _why_ they think what they
think"

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The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e.
the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same
time its ruling intellectual force. The class which has the means of
material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over
the means of mental production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the
ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to
it. The ruling ideas are nothing more than the ideal expression of the
dominant material relationships, the dominant material relationships
grasped as ideas; hence of the relationships which make the one class
the ruling one, therefore, the ideas of its dominance.

The German Ideology

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Victory for Putin in battle for 'Russia's BBC1'
Ian Traynor in Moscow
Guardian

Tuesday September 5, 2000

Russia's summer-long struggle for control of national television turned
sharply towards victory for President Vladimir Putin yesterday when the
influential Russian media mogul, Boris Berezovsky, announced that he was
surrendering control of Russia's main state channel.

The concession, coupled with a searing attack on Mr Putin's campaign to
tame the free media, left the Kremlin confident that the two most
important television channels in Russia and the most formidable sources
of opposition were being brought to heel.

In what was seen as a big victory for Mr Putin, who has made control of
the media, particularly national television, a central plank in his
campaign to entrench his political power, Mr Berezovsky said he was
surrendering his 49% share of ORT, the main state television channel, to
"journalists and intellectuals" after coming under intense pressure from
the Kremlin and being presented with an ultimatum.

In a letter to Mr Putin, leaked to the Interfax news agency, Mr
Berezovsky said one of the president's most senior aides had told him he
had a fortnight to get rid of the ORT shares. Mr Berezovsky alleged he
was threatened with imprisonment if he continued to defy Mr Putin.

full: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4059391,00.html

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