Parkinson's revolution by Mikhail Khodorkovsky

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who had escaped from Russia after pardon, stated at a press conference of Open Russia that he was preparing a revolution in Russia. According to him, the president of Russia committed an anti-constitutional coup in the country, so the revolution (Khodorkovsky licks his lips when he says this word) is inevitable.

We would like to say at once that it does not seem to be appropriate the for oligarch, who was bribing Russian MPs to turn Russia into a parliamentary republic, to speak about coups. In the past, Khodorkovsky wanted to be the prime minister of the new Russian parliamentary republic that he wanted to build as a result of a coup. Moreover, he reportedly invited the United States to take full control of the Russian nuclear arsenal to write off Russia's debt to the US in return.

"Khodorkovsky called the laws that the country approves illegitimate and urged everyone to sabotage them, adding that a step back into legal terrain from the current situation would be a revolution that Russia needs. He added that it was his prime objective to make this revolution go peacefully," the US-based Svoboda radio station said joyfully.

As a result, it was the word "revolution" that attracted people's attention most. For Khodorkovsky, this is not new a term.

He had tried to make a revolution happen in Russia, but failed and was jailed for financial fraud. However, this is not the case.  Khodorkovsky has been paranoid about a revolution in Russian for a long time already.

In 2014, Khodorkovsky posed for Bloomberg in Lenin's places near Zurich. He told the news agency back then that he was dreaming about a coup in Russia, albeit with lesser blood than a street massacre would take.

Not that long ago, the former head of Yukos stated that the Russians need to ignore the laws that they find immoral and unfair. When it comes to the word "revolution," Khodorkovsky starts playing like a broken record that tries to play the same song in different circumstances.

As for ignoring the laws, Mr. Khodorkovsky shows his level of political and legal competence here. "Illegitimate and repressive laws are being established in the country, they are being passed by the illegitimate parliament and used by illegitimate courts," Khodorkovsky said.

Can anyone teach "policy-maker" Khodorkovsky a lesson of political science? Legitimacy depends only on public perception. If the oligarch says that it is time the society needs to recognize the laws illegitimate, it means that these laws are currently legitimate in terms of public perception. Moreover, a revolution does not entail a return to legal norms. A revolution leads to the establishment of a new type of legitimacy that does not have to be legal at all.

Khodorkovsky doesn't understand what he is talking about when he exemplifies his point of view with the revolution in Venezuela. There was no revolution in that country: Chavez was not removed from power - he just died. There is no revolution in the country now either - Venezuela is holding elections.

Let's get back to the revolution that Khodorkovsky is going to orchestrate, as he promises.

"The country will have to experience a long period of stagnation and political crisis, and the revolutionary change of power that, I very much hope, will be bloodless," he wrote to the Echo of Moscow radio station from his prison cell. As for his own role in the process, he said that it was his goal to defuse the process and consequences of the revolution.

To his own detriment, Khodorkovsky speaks against all possible codes, including the criminal code. He believes, for example, that it is impossible to change the existent regime democratically. According to him, one requires revolutionary measures and an interim government. All this is needs to take place in Russia before a democratic election could be possible, he says. To crown it all, Khodorkovsky suggests Putin's successor should "destroy Putin physically and politically."

Noteworthy, experts call Khodorkovsky a "financial hub between the West and the Russian opposition."

Many still remember the famous scene from 1991, when the hands of Gennady Yanayev, the head of the State Committee for Emergency Situations, were shaking very expressively during the historical press conference. Those who watch Khodorkovsky's interviews point out that the oligarch suffers from a similar symptom, albeit of his head.

"Khodorkovsky may have Parkinson's at an early stage, an obsessive-compulsive disorder or tremor. It's unclear what kind of tremor it could be - maybe it's hereditary, maybe it's because of the thyroid gland, maybe it's something psychosomatic. I'd say it's psychological problems. This is not a normal condition - he needs to see a doctor," neurologist Valery Galkin said.

Maybe a sedative and a doctor would be better than a revolution, Mr. Khodorkovsky?

Sergei Larin