Tratado de Libre Comercio, Mercosur y Com. Europea

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If Michael Lewis (The New New Thing, Liar's Poker) or P.J. O'Rourke (Holidays in Hell, Parliament of Whores) had spent the 1990s in Moscow, they might have produced a book like Casino Moscow--a dizzying first-person account of the wild east and its shotgun wedding with capitalism. It begins with Matthew Brzezinski as a rookie reporter getting beaten and nearly killed by a pair of Ukrainian thugs; the rest of the book is a white-knuckle tour through a place where the line separating entrepreneurs and criminals is often impossible to discern. Brzezinski worked in the Moscow bureau of the Wall Street Journal. If his name sounds familiar, that's because he's the nephew of Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter's national security advisor. He is an ideal guide: sometimes it takes a fish-out-of-water foreigner to see the things a jaded native cannot. (Comparing the author to Alexis de Tocqueville or Gunnar Myrdal is a stretch, but it's the same idea.) Brzezinski also writes with great humor and amazing panache. Describing the parking lot of a high-class bank, he writes that it "resembled a well-stocked Mercedes dealership that specialized only in armored, navy blue 600-series sedans, or shestotki, as the top-of-the-line models were affectionately known--as in 'My shestotka's just been blown up, can I borrow yours?'" Gangsters, prostitutes, and Western investors fill these pages, all of them coming to life courtesy of Brzezinski's narrative skill.

Despite the title, Casino Moscow isn't just about Moscow--some of the best sections cover other parts of Russia: "It was heartbreaking that St. Petersburg had been so mistreated. Yet even in its state of decay, I still preferred its shabby elegance to Moscow's new-money makeover. In St. Petersburg you lived for the past; Moscow lived only for the day." At the edge of Siberia, on the Pacific coast, is Vladivostok--"five time zones ahead of the Russian capital, but a decade behind." The book is a fast-paced adventure story--and a must for readers interested in Russia as well as fans of modern-day gonzo journalism. Brzezinski is a writer to watch. --John Miller

Book Description

After awakening from its long communist slumber, Russia in the 1990s was a place where everything and everyone was for sale, and fortunes could be made and lost overnight. Into this free-market maelstrom stepped rookie Wall Street Journal reporter Matthew Brzezinski, who was immediately pulled into the mad world of Russian capitalism -- where corrupt bankers and fast-talking American carpetbaggers presided over the biggest boom and bust in financial history.

Brzezinski's adventures take him from the solid-gold bathroom fixtures of Moscow's elite, to the last stop on the Trans-Siberian railway, where poverty-stricken citizens must buy water by the pail from the local crime lord, and back to civilization, to stumble into a drunken birthday bash for an ultra-nationalist politico. It's an irreverent, lurid, and hilarious account of one man's tumultuous trek through a capitalist market gone haywire -- and a nation whose uncertain future is marked by boundless hope and foreboding despair.

Customer Reviews:

Exciting, But Not Terribly Informative.......2005-12-12

As someone who has been involved in Russian legal matters for the past ten years, I found this book quite interesting, if not always accurate. It is not so much that it is inaccurate with respect to what it reports, it is that it so much sensationalizes Russian business that it ignores the great multitudes of Russian businesses that are out there slogging it out just like most businesses in the West. So while I greatly enjoyed the book from a mostly prurient perspective, I did not find it terribly helpful in improving my knowledge of Russian business.

the best of all possible worlds?.......2005-07-24

This book is like the story of Candide! Except in this tale Candide remains completely ignorant of all the evidence that this is not the best of all possible worlds. I'am not even going to spend my precious time writing a decent-sized review of this debacle of a book; it's bad enough that I've read the book. If you're looking for a realistic outlook on Eastern European post 1991 condition - look elsewhere.

The Robber Barons of Moscow.......2004-08-29

Matthew Brzezinski, former reporter in the Moscow bureau of The Wall Street Journal (and nephew of Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter's anti-Soviet National Security Advisor) writes about his time in Moscow after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when a gambling mentality took over from the collapsed aspirations of Russia's 70 year experiment with Communism.

His book captures something of the atmosphere of Moscow and the former Soviet Union of the 1990s when anything seemed possible in the world of finance, set in a time and place in which Berezovsky, Gusinsky, and Potanin were discussed with the same awe (and envy) as Bezos, Case and (Martha) Stewart were in the United States.

One tale of a board meeting in the mid-1990s in the chapter "Potemkin Inc." (after the phrase "Potemkin village", a sham devised by 18th century bureaucrats to impress their sovereign) is particularly telling, not only about how far corporate governance has to go to attract foreign investors but also how the 'Soviet' mentality continues:

"One by one, the nine board members followed, one elderly official pausing by the microphone. 'Foreigners need to think about the future of the plant and about the welfare of its employees, not just about pumping profits,' he spat, white with anger. 'This meeting is over,' he added, storming off the stage."

Such comments have a familiar tone to consumers of Soviet propaganda. For 70 years the Soviet Union spoke of the horrors of Western imperialism, while at the same time running the most far-reaching totalitarian empire the world has ever seen.

At times Casino Moscow veers too much between being a personal memoir of his time in Moscow along with his growing relationship with Roberta and the larger story of the first few years of freedom in Russia. Snippets of the life of an expat in Moscow-the problems with personal staff, fears about safety, frustration with the petty bureaucracy-leave the reader wanting to learn more about what it is like to be in a country that has collapsed and is trying to find its place in the world community. Although I can sympathize with the desire for maintaining discretion regarding his wife's career, it was somewhat teasing that Brzezinski doesn't name her shadowy (although well known in Russian finance circles) and immensely profitable employer; he writes, "...I have taken the liberty of changing [her firm's name] to VSO, for Very Secretive Organization." Such subterfuge does little to dispel the notion of a cabal of financiers plotting the future of the world behind the scenes (which does not make Western capital look too attractive to its recipients).

Casino Moscow is an enjoyable book to read for anyone wondering about the beginnings of Russia's post-Soviet history.

Brzezinski Pontificating with Ethnocentric Tunnel Vision.......2004-08-08

Brezezinski offers nothing more than personal asinine butchered urban tales that appeal to people like himself--droll dunderheads lacking in both originality & sincerity. "Moskviche" would love to thank this "author."

Red Whine.......2004-02-17

I've never felt compelled to throw a book away. Until this one.
A reporter for a widely respected newspaper, dropped into '90s Moscow's whirling clash of cultures, should be able to come away with quite a collection of stories. And, to be fair, Brzezinski has some humorous stuff, and some interesting tales, but they're buried among too much personal detritus. There is far too much about the author, his family ties (enough already about "Uncle Zbig!") and his resentment of all things Russian. I've never read a book with such a smug (yet whiny) protagonist.
He didn't much like Russians (and had a big chip on his shoulder throughout the book), and he had little use for the expat community. With all his complaining, I wondered throughout this book why Brzezinski agreed to go to Russia, then why he stayed there, then why he bothered to write about it.
There's a good book somewhere in the Russia of the 1990s. This isn't it.

Book Description

Everything nonprofits need to boot up, log on, and benefit from the Net

Now revised and expanded, this easy-to-use guide is packed with the vital information and advice you need to attainâand maintainâa cyberadvantage. Covering everything from computer basics to designing your own Web site, it shows you how to get connected, conduct research, raise funds, expand your outreachâwith both adults and kidsâelectronically, and much more. With complete details on the latest technological advances, market trends, and cutting-edge tools, The Nonprofit Guide to the Internet, Second Edition. Surveys the most up-to-date hardware and software you need to get online

Explores cyberfundraising with examples from recent online campaigns

Includes a rare usage policy to help your organization get the most of the Net at your office

Illustrates nonprofit best practices on the Web with case studies, charts, and screen shots

Shows how nonprofits can harness the idiosyncratic to develop a unique attention-getting presence on the Web

Contains a multimedia bibliography, a glossary of terms, and a directory of nonprofit-related Web sites and addresses

Customer Reviews:

A terrific book for nonprofits wishing to go online.......1999-09-04

In law school, we learned law by studying cases - one case at a time. It was slow, excruciating, and at times confusing. But when we wanted to put it all together, if truth be known, we'd pick up a hornbook. (U.S. Lawyers in the audience will be nodding with me, as they recall Corbin on Contracts or Prosser on Torts.)

The Nonprofit Guide to the Internet - How to Survive and Thrive is a kind of "hornbook" for nonprofits wishing to embrace the Internet.

This second-edition book is not for cybergeeks. Like its first edition released in 1996, it thankfully assumes little or no prior Internet expertise. Indeed, in Chapter 1 it walks the reader through a description of the Internet and its basic structure. Those with a good grounding in things Internet can skip Chapter 1 and move into the meatier portions of the book - and there are plenty of them.

"Why a Nonprofit Should Go On-Line," Chapter 2, covers such benefits as improving internal and external communications, providing better access to information, professional development, and "cyber-fund-raising" and "cybercampaigning." In other words, it provides a conceptual framework for an organization to identify the reasons why it should go on-line. (I have to wonder, frankly, why any organization could even question the wisdom of doing so - but then, that's just me.)

It is not enough to decide to go on-line. There is the question of how best to do that. With a bewildering array of options these days, Chapter 3's discussion of "Getting Connected" will help. I liked how the author presents a step-by-step linear process that starts with an assessment of current equipment and office communication needs and moves forward to such topics as selecting an Internet service provider.

Sound dry? The author moistens the discussion considerably by weaving into the discussions with short case studies. It's as though we're looking over the shoulder of someone just like us as various decisions are being made. It's almost a little voyeuristic - the author lets us peek at "journal entries" of the person making these decisions. It's highly instructive and helps us understand how we might go through the same process for our own organization. I like that.

Where the book hits stride - and where the book's main value resides - begins with Chapter 4's treatment of "Turning Knowledge to Action: Finding the Full Potential of the Internet to Improve Your Communication, Outreach, and Public Awareness." For many in this audience who have a strong grasp of the Internet - and maybe even an expertise - this is where you'll likely begin reading.

Author Michael Johnston correctly counsels the reader: "Simply getting a computer, an Internet account, and a phone connection is not enough. A nonprofit decision maker needs to know how to use this new medium in ways that save money, serve more clients, and ensure the long-term stability of the organization." To illustrate, Johnston provides a case study showing the effectiveness of the Internet for improving communication with Internal audiences - volunteers, in this case. Organizations who rely on volunteers will find the case study of interest.

Without diminishing the importance of reaching and supporting an organization's "internal audience," I found the book's treatment of the "external audience" outstanding. In a section entitled, "The External Audience: Collaborating and Cooperating on the Internet," Johnston walks us through a case study that illustrates the amazing variety of communications tools offered by the Internet. I found the discussion on membership recruitment especially valuable.

The book's appeal is not just in the use of brief case studies, but also in its ample use of screen shots. Somehow just reading about various sites is not enough; we need to be shown them. And that's just what Johnston does, and amply, throughout. For a book on the Internet, this is as user-friendly as you can get. If the Internet is a hot topic with nonprofit organizations, then on-line fund raising is the hottest of the hot. Though it is probably impossible to write a definitive chapter on this topic, given the break-net pace with which "cyber-fund-raising" is galloping along, Johnston's treatment is among the better discussions I've seen in print. Even if it cannot hope to keep up with the changes taking place in this arena, it provides a way of approaching on-line fund raising that will continue to be valid for some time, in my view. Besides, the book is published this year, so it's current as of now and probably will remain so for a couple of years - until the next, inevitable, edition.

Surprisingly, though, the book omits a discussion on the legal issues of on-line fundraising. Of course, such a topic is sufficiently deep to warrant an entire chapter or even a book. Still, even a brief mention of the issues would have been expected. We'll look for such a discussion in the next edition.

I recommend this book for any board member, officer, staff member, or volunteer who is seriously considering whether and how to take a nonprofit organization online, or make its online presence more effective.

Here are the book's chapters:

Chapter 1 - Learning about the Internet

Chapter 2 - Why a Nonprofit Should Go On-Line

Chapter 3 - Getting Connected

Chapter 4 - From the Knowledge to Action: Finding the Full Potential of the Internet to Improve Your Communication, Outreach, and Public Awareness

Chapter 5 - Research on the Internet: Tools and Tricks

Chapter 6 - Cyber-Fund-Raising

Chapter 7 - Making it Happen: Establishing a Presence on the World Wide Web

Chapter 8 - Reaching Future Supporters Now

Chapter 9 - Harnessing the Idiosyncratic

Average customer rating:

Objective Account Of What Happend!

Conflicting history of General Heinrich Muller

Forgery and fraud

Still Searching Through the Dust of the 20th Century

Worth reading for the annotations alone!

Gestapo Chief : The 1948 Interrogation of Heinrich Muller, Volume 3
Gregory Douglas
Manufacturer: R James Bender Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Muller Journals : 1948-1950 the Washington Years, Volume 1

Gestapo Chief : The 1948 Interrogation of Henrich Muller, Volume 2

Regicide: The Official Assassination of John F. Kennedy

ASIN: 0912138734

Book Description

Includes subjects such as: Recently uncovered documents proving that Mller was working for U.S. intelligence; the large Soviet spy ring in England; details of Swiss bank accounts looted by the CIA; U.S. intelligence documents on Pearl harbor showing the extent of prior knowledge of the Japanese attack; postwar Nazi penetraton of the CIA-controlled Gehlen organization; the famous White Rose conspiracy; the origins of the bloody Stalin purges of the late 1930's; Roosevelt's successful plan to keep refugee Jews from finding safety in the U.S.; the Slapton Sands disaster in 1944; and the recovery of the Globocnik golden hoard buried in Austria in 1945.

Customer Reviews:

Objective Account Of What Happend!.......2007-07-20

The 4 Volumes of Heinrich Muller give a objective and clear view of historical moments both before,during and after the second world war.
The Winner writes History,is a frase used by Muller.
He also gives a thrue account of History at that point in time,such as te reluctance of both Britain and The United States to accept Jewish refugees
in the middle of the war after secret negotiations.
Etnical clensing did not begin in Yugoslavie,they had examples in the Polish border area.(German civillions)Documented by international press.
These volumes give a thru account what really happend during those yeaers.

Conflicting history of General Heinrich Muller.......2006-01-29

According to "Aftermath: Martin Bormann and the Fourth Reich" by
Ladislas Farago - 1974 and "Martin Bormann: Nazi in Exile" by Paul Manning - 1981, General Heinrich Muller escaped Berlin and wound up in South America, in charge of Martin Borman's security. He never
left South America and died there when he was 83. I have read all three
volumes by Douglas Gregory, and wonder how Muller could be in Washington, DC and South America at the same time........

Forgery and fraud.......2005-08-31

Just so no one is left out of the loop, this book has been shown to be a forgery by a Holocaust denier. Even fellow Holocaust denier David Irving is pissed about this book's forgeries.

Still Searching Through the Dust of the 20th Century.......2003-11-17

This book is one of a series of four volumes published to date about the former head of internal security for the Third Reich: Heinrich Müller. The writer is a nonacademic historian by reputation, possibly a journalist by profession. Mr. Douglas relies on material not generally available, some available through the Freedom of Information Act or FOIA, one of the legacies of the Watergate Scandal of the 1970s. Much of the material are translations--and the reader must rely on them. In addition, we find a man here, born in 1900 (THAT appears noncontroversial). He began his career as a policeman in Bavaria, yet rose to the highest position of authority in the Gestapo (Geheimstaatspolizei) or Internal Reich Security in the Third Reich.

Those appear to be undisputed facts. However, what happened to Heinrich Müller after the War is a matter of conjecture. Following the narrative established by Douglas, General Müller's post-war career is nothing short of remarkable, and worthy of an extremely intelligent, worldly, and clever man. Some have attempted to discredit the works as simply inconsistent for a man who previously appeared unremarkable. I would suggest to the reader, however, that a 45 year old man, sprung at the end of a lifetime of wars, uncertainty, and rise to great power, might just be on the threshold of capitalizing on a lifetime of observation and learning from the great masters of deception, megalomania, and conversion of disgrace to respectability (on their terms), public admiration, and generation of fear. These are, I suggest, the qualities upon which General Müller may have been prepared to initiate a postwar career, one born of the boredom of 3 years lived in obscurity, and the OSS-CIAs need for a crash-course in anti-communist networking, knowledge of operatives, and ability to guide those privy to the coming new world order of the last half of the 20th century. This, according to the material presented, and the brief commentaries from Mr. Douglas, is exactly the bold move that General Müller sought to commence.

While I will not claim to be an historical expert, I do find the presentation credible from a life-history perspective, and one of the development of personal identity across the life span. Heinrich Müller, above any others alive toward the end of World War II, was in a position to prepare himself for a productive post-war life. He aspired to greater power, self-presentation of worldly knowledge and character, and was in a position to work for the most congenial authority that would set him up in a protected and powerful place of influence.

That place may just have been the United States. The interviews ring authentically of a man of his origins and stealthy rise under Himmler and Heidrich. He only joined the Party quite late in his career with the SS. This book, and others in the series, should serve as an object lesson for anyone who believes that we do NOT really know what happened at the end of the War, following Eisenhower's halt at the Elbe (see Udo Pfleghar's fascinating book on that subject, "Brückenkopf Zerbst", Anhaltische Verlagsgesellschaft mbH Dessau, 1998).

Under the methods of administration of the Freedom of Information Act (the exceptions should be read by every American!) and the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act, we may never know in great detail the activities of Müller, who was dropped from the search for Nazi War Criminals sought internationally in 1960. Yes, 1960. Were General Müller still alive, he would be 103. Those who knew him will be protected because of that contact in perpetuity as will their confidants, informants, and families. Having myself seen official copies of many of the documents presented here, we can only hope that for the sake of history and freedom, that the trail is followed by able truth-seekers. That these books of Mr. Douglas seem unchallenged by credible sources, I suggest they should be reprinted, and thereby become more widely available as in the manner of Professor Richard J. Evans' critique of David Irving's "outside of academia" works in the book "Lying About Hitler" (Basic Books paperback, 2001). Herr Müller is as interesting a figure to come out of the Third Reich as any whose lives have been examined with penetrating questions about the limits of human motivation.

Worth reading for the annotations alone!.......2003-04-17

While the authenticity of Mr. Douglas' material pertaining to Muller may still be out to question, all three volumes in this series are none the less thoroughly enjoyable reading.

The profuse annotations (about 50% of the material presented) provide a wealth of information for any enthusiast short of the true scholar.

For his own part, Mr. Douglas writes in a style that is smooth, lucid, and comprehensible, affording the reader that sort of relaxed flow that is rarely found in non-narratives.

Customer Reviews:

An Easy Read About A Perplexing Figure.......2004-08-26

This is the first secondary source of which I am aware that takes as established the survival of SS-Grueppenfuehrer Heinrich Mueller after World War II (see the volumes by Gregory Douglas on Mueller published by R. James Bender, San Jose, CA).

It is well written, at a junior-high to high school level, and although the first of the "Holocaust Biographies" series for juvenile readers I have seen, if it is representative of their quality, it is a harbinger of an excellent group of books. This book also provides good explanations of Fascist/Nazi motivations, their actions, and the Holocaust. It also discusses the complex motivations of such a man as Mueller himself, who rose from obscurity to one of the highest and most important positions in the Reich.

Regarding Mueller, it is mostly definitive, and will introduce the young reader to the perplexing vicissitudes of foe-becomes-friend as loyalties shift in our modern world.

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