Notes on Tass article:
[My notes on points in article and my reactions, FWIW. - guy6]
* ultimate source is Internafta, via Vedomosti, with minimal GlobeTel contact
----- [GlobeTel Wireless Europe denial]
* confirms that Internafta was established specifically for the project
* reveals identity of two 25% shareholders [Vadim Tataurov, Sergei Zhukov]
----- [why secret before but not now?]
* negotiation time frame ["November"] not as described by GlobeTel
* I can believe that Huff did push the deal along, but the Russians signed off on it
* "Internafta failed to meet the deadline for its first payment"
* "nobody took into account the Russian New Year holidays"
----- [the Russians were there, right? Oh yeah, they "forgot"]
* "Internafta made the first payment but at a later date"
----- [but in a form totally unacceptable to GTE]
* "GlobeTel lost interest in the project after the agreement was signed"
----- [fat chance, but perhaps suspicion was aroused, leading to more cautious approach by GTE]
* "GlobeTel's managers offered them to buy GlobeTel shares before signing the contract"
----- [I would have a problem with that. But I don't take the source as entirely credible]
* "GlobeTel's shareholders accused the company of faking the agreement"
----- [I won't dignify that with a comment]
* "Some Russian market observers speculated [that Internafta] might have [tried to] obtain a developed business plan from GlobeTel [edited] without having any intention [of executing the contract]."
----- [Interesting. Russians speculating about Russians gives this some credibility.]
AI
