No one went after the Russian oligarchs in print the way she did; so much so that Cambridge University Press was too scared to publish her book. (Simon and Schuster did.). In response to Cambridge’s retreat, Karen wrote the following, in 2014:
Last week the EU and the US Government issued a visa ban and asset freeze on the very inner core that is the subject of my book. Many works will now come out on the makeup of the list and why each individual was placed on it. The answers to these questions are in my book. Isn’t it a pity that the UK is a ‘no-fly’ zone for publishing the truth about this group? These Kremlin-connected oligarchs feel free to buy Belgravia, kill dissidents in Piccadilly with Polonium 210, fight each other in the High Court, and hide their children in British boarding schools. And as a result of their growing knowledge about and influence in the UK, even the most significant British institutions (and I think we can agree that CUP, with its royal charter, 500-year history and recent annual revenues in excess of $400m, is a veritable British institution) cower and engage in pre-emptive book-burnings as a result of fear of legal action…. [Perhaps some day we] can once again turn to CUP with the knowledge that it is indeed devoted to publishing “all manner of books” and not just those that won’t awaken the ire of corrupt Russian oligarchs out to make a further mockery of British institutions.
How topical, with the Russians still poisoning dissidents in London. How brave and lucid and true.
April 11th, 2018 at 3:52PM
They are obviously slipping, since their “military grade” nerve agent has failed to kill either intended victim, and they apparently had it smeared on an external doorknob, not exactly the surest delivery method. The Russians apparently don’t make “military grade” poisons nor secret-agent delivery systems like the old polonium pellet in the umbrella trick like they used to.
April 11th, 2018 at 5:06PM
tp: Yes — the earlier polonium incident turns out to have been much grimmer.
April 12th, 2018 at 3:28PM
I’m very sorry to hear this news. She was a courageous scholar.