Putin vs. Khodorkovsky

Instapundit pointed to this thoroughly alarmist article.

Is Russia the Next Zimbabwe?

I've posted on this before here and here. I still have a hard time losing sleep over this. Probably because i'm not sure that Putin is the bad guy. Is it not possible that his actions against Khodorkovsky are designed to keep Russia from becoming an entrenched kleptocracy like Zaire?

Frankly, i think both African analogies are weak. Russia is its own country and i'm not sure that there is an easy analogy to draw from anywhere else in the world.

But this question i posed last year still holds, i think:

Right now in this country former CEOs are appearing in courtrooms. We accept that the excesses of the Clinton Bubble included illegal activities. Why is it hard to believe that some of the men who got rich in Russia's "privatisations" are not honest businessmen? The arrest of Khodorkovsky is a matter of grave concern, but Ken Lay and Bernie Ebbers deserve to rot in jail?