Vlad The Imperious: Tales Of A Russian Enforcer
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday July 29, 2008
MURDER BY NUMBERS IN PUTINLAND 8.30pm, SBS: It has been eight years since Vladimir Putin got his hands on Russia. A small man with gimlet eyes and slender evidence of a winning smile, he has presided over big changes in the country. He has also presided over a spate of murders, mysterious killings and eliminations unlike anything seen since the old Soviet Union lost the final of the Cold War. This doco looks at the structure of the Putin administration and suggests that up to 60 per cent of key government posts are filled by people from the military or the labyrinth of intelligence agencies that pervade Russian society. The secret service has become a legal instrument to serve Putin, silence opposition and dispose of radicals deemed detrimental to him. The fate of the journalist Anna Politkovskaya and the expatriate activist Alexander Litvinenko are notorious examples, but there are scores more. Litvinenko, a former operative of the FSB security apparatus, was scathing of Putin's incursion into Chechnya and claimed al-Qaeda's No.2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was trained by the FSB in Russia shortly before the September 11, 2001, attacks. Is Putin's power legitimate or has he seized control of the nation and effectively entrenched himself as a tsarist dictator? Very illuminating with a glass of hospital style polonium - shaken, not stirred.
THE CARS THAT ATE CHINA 8.30pm, ABC1: Where did the cars go after they gobbled down Paris? Beijing is the answer. While this interesting doco spends rather too much time fanging through traffic with young Chinese revheads, it peers through the smog-shrouded Olympic city to illuminate factors driving the booming car market. The car is a status symbol that reiterates how China's huge economic achievements aren't driven by muscle and sweat alone. The country uses as much diesel fuel in one day as the whole of Australia uses in a year yet only 2 per cent of people own cars. They are symbols of prosperity and the reason researchers deduce the resources of another four planets will be needed to maintain the emerging prosperous majority in a nation of 1.3 billion. Forget the Olympics and the rhapsodic blah which puts the image of individual Chinese people at odds with the image the state apparatus insists we accept as valid. Within a decade China will be more economically powerful than the United States and will dominate world affairs. This program is as much about nuanced ideological fibbing, brutal regimentation and a culture of contrived nationalism as it is about cars and freedom. Read between the frames of this Jumping Dog production (g'day Frank!), and behind the assiduous poses of car show mannequins as an intoxicated wave of nouveau riche hurtle down the freeway with their eyes wide shut.FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT 9.30pm, ABC1: Eric Campbell, aided by individuals who risk severe repercussions, scrutinises the way the Chinese Communist Party is silencing dissent and glossing over the entrenched corruption that has done so much to make Beijing an Olympics showplace. As ever, there's ugliness behind the manicured vistas. People who have been done over and deprived of their right to petition the authorities show formidable guts in coming forward to voice their discontent. We owe it to the ordinary people to listen to their voices - unmuted by the state's strident PR.JENNIFER BYRNE'S ANIMAL TALES 10pm, ABC1: Humans are able to form powerful bonds with animals of various kinds yet we fear the Martians and drool over the anthropomorphic characters of Disneyland and cartoon fantasy realities. Jennifer Byrne and a panel of authors pore over the world of animals in literature. Rikki-Ticki-Tavi!RADIOBACKGROUND NOISE Midnight, 2MBS-FM: Sneak previews of the coming Endgame release, For The Time Being, by A Slow Rip. Weird ambience and improvisational experimentation from the exotic northern beach suburbs of Wollongong merge with hybrid sounds, fierce intent and a dash of musik conkrete.
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald