What will an intellectual do after learning that his sweetheart is cheating on him? Imagine a real gentleman capable of holding his emotions in check, having carefully made his choice, calculated all the pros and cons in her character and secured himself against all contingencies, then suddenly discovering that she has walked out on him with an unshaven hussar? Now isn’t she an idiot? Anyway, this gentleman will either shoot himself or go to a spa for a cure.
Boris Berezovsky also went to a spa, safe in his knowledge of having taken every precaution. Kirienko was down, Chernomyrdin would be reinstated, with the Communist ladies gasping for breath, overjoyed; the crisis would be over in a week, and the succession secured.
So what do we have now? Kirienko is in Australia and Chernomyrdin can also fly there to go to the opera in Sydney and watch lazy koalas. Primakov is in Moscow’s White House (which is much better than having Luzhkov there), the Communists are dividing portfolios, the crisis is underway, and government bureaucrats are taking turns getting fired. No succession of power.
Now who said that Boris Berezovsky is a topnotch expert? So what? Who cares anyway? Not the man himself. After all, he can stay abroad for awhile, order more Wienerwurst and apple pie with Viennese coffee. It’s not the end of the world, is it? Yes, but what about all those who cannot afford to go to a spa, having lost their savings or waiting for the pink slip, waking up in the morning and rushing over to the radio to hear about today’s dollar rate?
Mr. Berezovsky can say about himself: "I am not of the middle class." Indeed, he used to work as a broker. Others like the retired journalist Ivan Grigorievich or ex-supermarket manager Shalva Iosifovich can say this, too. But they have different reasons for saying so. Mr. Berezovsky took off at will and they were fired, and their bank accounts were frozen until better times.
Of one thing I am sure: Mr. Berezovsky will never miss that date to return.






