Crises pass, presidents come and go, constitutional reforms begin and end. All of it is fleeting. All is dust and ashes.
Yury M. Luzhkov alone is eternal and unchanging. This sturdy man of practical affairs, together with his loyal colleagues, after spitting on their hands, giving a hearty grunt, and doing whatever else clever, businesslike peasant-types are supposed to do, goes right on sawing away at the Moscow budget. The crooks and thieves are simply astounding. They don’t give a damn about the crisis. They don’t give a damn about any anti-corruption initiatives. ***On the shore of the Dead Sea, the Moscow mayor’s office is planning "in the near future" to build a 600-room health resort complex with a total area of 16,000 square meters. According to the department, the complex will include 240 luxury rooms, two indoor swimming pools, a spa salon, a medical center, two restaurants, and a helipad. Investment in the project will total $100 million. The 2009 Moscow budget has already earmarked $13 million for this construction, despite earlier promises to cut investment projects outside Moscow because of a lack of funds. ***//// Yes, yes. That is exactly what "dear Muscovites" need most at this time of crisis: an elite resort on the shore of the Dead Sea. With a helipad. One assumes the helipad will be available strictly upon presentation of a Muscovite social card. Strictly. And the spa salon only for winners of the city award "Moscow Janitor." In the article, City Hall representative Silkin says that **"the trend toward reducing the number of investment projects will not affect this complex, because it is located in a 'unique area that will be beneficial for Muscovites.'" **Of course this area will be beneficial for Muscovites. For certain Muscovites. Because some slick Israelis have already paid kickbacks of some number of millions of dollars to some crooked Muscovites in the Moscow mayor’s office. If they want to skim off the construction, then they should at least build it somewhere in Sochi. The climate there may not be quite as beneficial, but it’s still Russia. What can you do—there are plenty of places with good climates in the world; that doesn’t mean we should now be building luxury hotels everywhere at the public’s expense. If there really are patients in Moscow who, for medical reasons, need treatment specifically at the Dead Sea, then let’s buy them vouchers to existing health resorts. Why the hell do we need a 600-room complex? So it turns out we are investing taxpayers’ money in Israel, and then on top of that "the authorities will allocate subsidies to city residents to purchase vouchers to the sanatorium." Quite a business.