General Without an Army.

Aleksandr Lebed runs a risk of turning into a marginal politician.

General Lebed is the most eclectic of the Russian politicians. His patchy ideological garb looks nothing like a soldier's uniform. The circle of his potential partners is more than wide: from Luzhkov and Korzhakov to Svyatoslav Fedorov and Yavlinskiy. From time to time he humiliates one or another. Recently, Lebed, a principled enemy of the communists, suddenly declared his readiness to cooperate with them. The economists, who have already contributed to his ideas or whom he believes promising, belong, to say the least, to different schools. Lebed used ideas of liberal-minded economist Vitaliy Nayshul and his group in the last presidential elections; Sergey Glazev, who believes in the leading role of the state, is close to communists and Yegor Stroyev; Leonid Abalkin, the idol of Ryzhkov's fruitless times who was deposed by the time and economic practice; Mikhail Delaygin who used to work in the presidential administration and shared many of the government economists' ideas; a certain Vladimir Shtundyuk from the Central Economic-Mathematical Institute.

There can be no serious consideration of his priorities in the financial and industrial sphere. In his recent interview to a economic weekly Ekspert (which demonstrated loyalty bordering on servility) Lebed (like a promotion agent) made public his preferences: UNEXIMbank, Rossiyskiy Kredit, Inkombank, Mezhdunarodnyy Promyshlennyy Bank, Gazprom, LUKoil, Surgutneftegaz, Irkutskenergo, Tupolev Design Bureau, MAPO association, Sukhoy Design Bureau, VIST, a computer firm. He added artlessly: "This is far from complete. Those I could think of on spot."

It is a thought-provoking phrase in an interview most certainly signed by Lebed and weeded by his press service.

Despite this list, nearly too long to read to the end, the interview contains warm words about Vladimir Vinogradov, the Inkombank head. There were stubborn rumors that this very respectable bank with the assets nearly the largest in Russia had been supporting the general. The bank refuted the rumors. Lebed has let the cat out of the bag.

Lately, besides doing financial and theoretical research, Lebed has been creating his party. He has demonstrated his eclectic nature in this, more public sphere, as well. He set up Truth and Order movement, a Russian national-republican party, signed an agreement to set up a Third Force Union. All this was forgotten, probably except the party: obviously, his team's efforts were too marginal.

Despite his solid frame his is following all the currents and tried all shores under the slightest of breezes. The general still remains the only advantage of the forces he deems to be friendly with. This happened during the parliamentary elections when Glazev and Skokov, two politicians devoid of any charisma, sided with him. This is what happening now when the general is siding with people whom nobody know outside the party office.

Lebed has no team.

Indeed, who can be serious about a patchy crowd of organizationally and intellectually inadequate individuals who copy the words of a third-rate political scientist published in Nezavisimaya gazeta and, on the next day, send practically the same article signed by Lebed to a respectable daily. The general denied his authorship and accused Izvestia of virtually misusing his famous name. The newspaper has all grounds to believe that it was slandered.

Despite the fact that Lebed is still keeping the honorary third place in the rating of presidential candidates-2000 (following Nemtsov and Zyuganov) (according to Obshchestvennoe mnenie polls) he is in danger to lose his rating points. He will go lower and lower if he does not alter his political strategy, clearly formulate his ideas and preferences, change his analytical and image-making team. So far, he is carrying in his luggage rather wilted jokes, unhealthy hatred of Chubays, who offended him, his new comrade-in-arms Garry Kasparov, who lost his match against Deep Blue because of too deep involvement in politics, his newly created taste for foreign trips together with his always smiling wife and the idea that time has come to stop labelling common people and politicians as "red" and "white". This latter idea has exhausted nearly all we know about Lebed's political views. Aleksandr Prokhavov employed it for his ends in a very specific way saying that both the left and the extreme right opposions (red and white) blend into one. President Boris Yeltsin exploited the same idea, in a different interpretation, during his presidential campaign.

Therefore, Lebed can offer nothing new to the nation by brandishing this shop-worn idea. It was Aleksey Golovkov's team that prepared and directed Lebed's true triumph, now nearly a year old. Upon elections the general dismissed them. They were obviously "white". Now Lebed is prepared to mention the red color in the positive sense. This might cause color blindness the type Prokhanov is suffering from.