Was The Island 'A Satellite of Russia?'

News from the Celtic League:

Back in 1999, an article in the 'New York Times' concluded with this memorable piece:

''The Isle of Man is streets ahead of other jurisdictions in this area,'' said John R. Aspden, head of the island's Financial Supervision Commission. But the entanglement with Russia still rankles. ''Is the Isle of Man a satellite of Russia?'' he said. ''Of course, it's not.''

The head of the FSC was talking about regulation as revelations about dealings with Russian oil moguls swirled about.

The issue is back in the news two decades later because of the release in November 2019 of ‘Citizen K’ a film documentary about Mikhail Khordorkovsky who famously fell out of favour with our old mate Putin (a guy you defo don’t want to have tea with).

'The Nation' has this review of the film and the man published on Wednesday and the Island gets a walk on role. I wonder if the Isle of Man gets a walk on part in the film>

The thing about the Isle of Man is whatever our business community and the glitterati of the golden mile do it's always above board. Coincidentally in a few days it will be Holocaust Memorial Day (27th January) when the world pauses to hope that through remembrance things like the terrible events of WW2 will not occur again. However sadly they did when the Rwanda tragedy unfolded in the 1990s. Back then companies here were supplying weapons to the Hutu to assist their murderous rampage against the Tutsis. Of course everything here was above board - it always is - but someone always pays a price!

Links:

NY Times article (1999)

https://www.nytimes.com/…/international-business-undercurre…

The Nation Jan 22 2020

https://www.thenation.com/…/citizen-k-movie-khodorkovsky-g…/

Image: Vlad - He’s really just a straightforward sort of guy!

Bernard Moffatt