The Fox Blog

I was truly amazed by how good this book was. When I first got it, I though I would be reading a documentary with nothing but dates and names. You do find dates and names, but the interesting part in the book is the analysis behind all those events, based on the own experience of the author and on hundreds of press articles.

“The Russian Mafia” is the only book by Federico Varese, a scholar at Oxford University, currently holding the chair of the Criminology department. Believing his words, it took several years of work and multiple trips to Russia. Although the issue is covered in a general perspective at some point, Varese emphasized on a specific region: Perm. He personally interviewed people directly involved in the process of the Russian mafia: criminals, company managers, security officers, journalists and so on.

Perm is one of the ten most populated areas in Russia and most importantly the refuge of dozens of criminals and gangsters. As explained, the rate of crime is related to the location of nearby prisons. During the Soviet era, prisoners were sent to low populated regions in the country (ideal for setting up a prison); once the sentence served, the prisoner was not allowed to move back to major cities so he usually lived in a nearby place. Consequently, towns were established by ex-prisoners; in our case towns located in the Perm region.

The collapse of the Soviet Union caused thousands of K.G.B. agents, government officers, sportsmen to be out of job. Simultaneously, demand for security increased dramatically since capitalism was just overtaking communism. Thus, security agencies (lots of which are considered mafia) were constituted to serve the most prominent political and economical agents (oligarchs plays a big part) but also the less influential people in the country.

When talking about mafia, we insinuate organized crime. If three robbers organize a robbery and succeed, is this organized crime? The author argues that the notion of monopoly comes in hand. A group of criminals controlling for example the distribution of drugs in a specific region are considered to be part of organized crime. Thus, they will not allow anyone else to sell drugs on their territory and will respond by violent means if someone does. Here comes the second characteristic: being in hold of a physical force and using it when needed.

The organization and the origins of the mafia constitute another part of the book. A particular aspect I found very interesting is related to the ancestor of the Russian mafia, the vory-v-zakone, a community constituted by criminals respecting certain laws related to how one should live his life and defining what he should (eg. Live by stealing and gambling) and should not do (eg. Never execute an order given by a governmental authority). You also find a comparison with other worldwide criminal organization such as the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, the American Mafia and the Hong Kong Triads.

In a nut shell, this book is a must-read. You will definitely not get bored reading - it doesn’t exceed 200 pages. I even read some parts 5 or 6 times in order to understand the smallest details. Too bad there isn’t any other crime-related book by the author.

I first saw the movie premier when the movie was released in 2003, then saw it a couple of times of TV – including a couple of days ago. I even bought the DVD. I must say I never get bored of the movie; the story is just amazing and the production great.

The movie, written by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neal, two famous comic books authors, features all-time favorite adventure, fantasy and horror characters:
- Allan Quatermain (Sean Connery), the hunter
- Tom Sawyer (Shane West) , the adventurer
- Captain Nemo (Naseeruddin Shah), pirate and captain of the ocean jewel the Nautilus
- Mina Harker (Peta Wilson), surviving victim of Dracula
- Rodney Skinner (Tony Curran), the invisible man
- Dorian Gray (Stuart Townsend), the ageless
- Dr. Henry Jekyll and his brutish ego Mr. Hyde (Jason Flemyng)

At first sight, all those characters fitting in one movie can seem too crowded, but actually the mixture makes the movie a success. The least we could say is that the production was able to define a plausible storyline where everyone can fit without making the movie too crowded or too boring.

The plot: London 1899 - A criminal mastermind, only known as “The Phantom”, plots to start a world war on the planet. The British Empire forms a group of seven individuals (mentioned above), each one characterized by unique skills, known as the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen whose goal is to stop “The Phantom”, unveil his criminal plans and rescue the world from a total annihilation war – well I’m exaggerating a bit.

Some free ebooks (or etexts) related to the movie I found (on Project Gutenberg, an amazing e-library of free ebooks) along the way:
- King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
- The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells
- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
- The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

I’ve spent almost two month reading this book bite by bite, page by page. “American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush” is a 400-page bestseller book written by Kevin Phillips, also known for other political-related books such as Wealth and Democracy. The book covers everything there is to know about the Bush family, their history, their administration and how they reached the top of the political ladder. Phillips talks about an “American dynasty” starting from the late 19th century up till nowadays. He even compares the Bushes to the Stuarts in Great Britain and the Bourbons in France, focusing on how the power is transferred from father to son. The book is both historical and documentary as it also exposes numerous conspiracy theories.

Some of the conspiracies I particularly appreciated reading:
- Prescott Bush (governor and father of the 41st president and grandfather of the 43rd president) being a commercial partner to Nazi Germany. According to the author and based on reliable documents, a big part of Nazi Germany’s military arsenal was American made. Up to the beginning of World War II, Prescott Bush and his partners at W.I. Harriman ran several offshore corporations in Europe and mainly in Germany (where the economical development more remarkable than anywhere else in Europe). During WWII, the same Prescott Bush was working for the American government on the Armament Board in order to provide heavy armory to American soldiers fighting against the Nazi occupation in Europe.

- “Iran-Contra” and “October Surprise” during the George H.W. Bush (the 41st president) C.I.A. directorship. The Iran hostage crisis in 1979 is believed to be the crucial element that caused Democrat President Candidate Jimmy Carter to lose the elections against Republican Candidate Ronald Reagan. It is mentioned that the democrats struck a deal with the Iranians, during a meeting in Paris in October 1979, in order for them not to release the hostages before the end of the presidential elections. The multiple hostage rescue missions are also though to have been sabotaged in order for the mission to fail and consequently the popularity of Jimmy Carter to stay low is the polls.

- George W. Bush’s (the 43rd president) privileged relation with Texan oil corporations such as Exxon and Enron preceding and during his presidency. This matter is related to the different wars on Iraq conducted by the Bushes and how the oil corporation were made entire partner to the military industry in the U.S.A. and privileged businesses in America and “colonized” countries such as Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries.

Another interesting part of the book, which Kevin Phillips himself was surprised in writing, is the political relation of George W. Bush with religion. Bush is described as being though by himself and his supporters as a savior coming to deliver the world from the famous “Axis of Evil” he talks about. A notable religious figure the author talks about is Billy Graham.

American Dynasty is a good book; you should read it – if you like reading that is. I must admit that at some point, the book started getting boring just stating facts, dates and names that didn’t seem to have any relation with each other, too many details. This is what probably makes the book a bestseller: no side stories or exempted passages, you’ll find everything related to the Bushes in it, and not just everything you need to know about.

American Dynasty Official Web Site