The USSR is back

Socialism is alive and well in Mother Russia, where the oil industry has been re-nationalized. Yukos Oil, Russia's largest oil producer, and for a time, arguably the most "western" company in the way it ran its business, is about to be repurchased by Gazprom, another company that is owned and controlled by the Russian government.

Yukos was once responsible for nearly two percent of the world's oil production. But that was before its CEO, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, spoke out in favor of more personal freedoms and private ownership in Russia, and supported Vladimir Putin's opponents in elections. Shortly after Khordokovsky's public dissent, he was thrown in jail and Yukos was hit with tax evasion charges the international business community has universally condemned as bogus. The company would keep paying the fines, because they can't defend themselves in Putin's kangaroo court, but now Putin is forcing the company into bankruptcy. Of course, by forcing the sell-off of Yukos' core assets before it's less essential ones, Putin is breaking his own laws. But then, rule of law has never really been an issue in the Soviet Union.

Of course, the US government has done next to nothing, maybe because our president once claimed he "looked into Putin's soul" and saw a kindred spirit. (I wonder what folks in Chechnya think of Putin's soul.) Maybe because the US wants Putin to keep quiet over Iraq.

But this can't be denied -- Vladimir Putin wants more control over the oil supply, and he's willing to break the law to do it. The Russian bear is getting ready to growl again. And this white house is caught with its fly down.

The white house has already demonstrated its failure on this issue. Will Congress repeat this failure when Russia demands membership in the World Trade Organization later this year?