So there’s an Uzbek billionaire trying to get his grubby sausage-fingered mits into the club I love. Outspoken ex-British Ambassador of Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, posts some accusations about Usmanov’s past on his website which don’t paint Usmanov in a particularly pretty light. Usmanov’s City solicitors Schillings then bully Murray’s ISP into taking down his site (rather than taking legal action against Murray himself, who would very much appreciate his day in court) as well as those of others who have repeated the claims. As a result, several other blogs, including that of Boris Johnson, have been caught in the crossfire and have found themselves out of action. Shillings have also threatened plenty of others, including my good chum Arseblogger, who was forced to remove some of Murray’s accusations.
Happily, the whole thing appears to have backfired horribly on Usmanov and his team as the stories of heavy-handedness propagate around the internet. Labour MP Tom Watson has been raising awareness, Channel 4 News ran a piece last night, and the blog Chicken Yoghurt is tallying sites that are pushing the story.
I’d imagine Usmanov is learning that the sort of posturing, weight-throwing and bully-boy tactics that are obviously acceptable in the oligarchic world of corporate takeovers in which he has amassed his fortunes aren’t quite so effective when it comes to smothering information, irrespective of whether it be fact, fiction or opinion.
14 responses so far ↓
1 Chicken Yoghurt » Public Service Announcement - Craig Murray, Tim Ireland, Boris Johnson, Bob Piper... // Sep 22, 2007 at 12:33 pm
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2 The Perfect Pitch » Blog Archive » Usmanov shows his true colours // Sep 22, 2007 at 1:49 pm
[...] LFB UK, Liberal Revolution, Wombles, Focus on Sodbury…, Follow The Money, Freedom and Whisky, Melting Man, PoliticalHackUK [...]
3 This is England (and Scotland and Wales) « The Bristol Blogger // Sep 23, 2007 at 12:23 pm
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4 Pickled Politics » Bloggers under threat // Sep 23, 2007 at 4:17 pm
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5 Alisher Usmanov: Boris Johnson On Free Speech » Anorak News // Sep 23, 2007 at 9:04 pm
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6 Alisher Alisher Usmanov courting online PR disaster, closing down Boris Johnson et al : moninski.com: PR and beyond // Sep 23, 2007 at 10:29 pm
[...] LFB UK, Liberal Revolution, Wombles, Focus on Sodbury…, Follow The Money, Freedom and Whisky, Melting Man, PoliticalHackUK, Simon Says…, Daily EM, From The Barrel of a Gun, The Fourth Place, The Armchair [...]
7 Blogs censurados « 14 de abril // Sep 24, 2007 at 7:04 pm
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8 Missing Bloggers at Cynical Chatter From The Underworld // Sep 24, 2007 at 7:41 pm
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9 Free speech should not be expunged by legal bullying! « Curly’s Corner Shop, the blog! // Sep 24, 2007 at 11:02 pm
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10 Marginalized Action Dinosaur » Alisher Usmanov is a criminal // Sep 25, 2007 at 5:01 pm
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11 Usmanov allegations repeated in European Parliament Debate byTom Wise MEP | The Wardman Wire // Sep 26, 2007 at 8:26 am
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12 Usmanov allegations repeated in European Parliament Debate byTom Wise MEP | The Wardman Wire // Sep 26, 2007 at 8:26 am
[...] LFB UK, Liberal Revolution, Wombles, Focus on Sodbury…, Follow The Money, Freedom and Whisky, Melting Man, PoliticalHackUK, Simon Says…, Daily EM, From The Barrel of a Gun, The Fourth Place, The Armchair [...]
13 Marginalized Action Dinosaur » Usmanov cont, // Oct 13, 2007 at 5:20 pm
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14 Blogs down… (update updated updated…) « Samantha, Gordon, & Me // Nov 21, 2007 at 11:17 am
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