Posted on 08/15/2008 9:44:16 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Vladimir Putin makes Robert Maxwell look small-fry
Patrick Hosking: Business commentary
One of the curious trends of recent years has been the Western business community’s enduring love affair with the unlovely Russia. With every passing week, it becomes clearer that this is a country run by and for people little different from gangsters. The tanks rolling into Georgia have reminded us that they are gangsters with keys to a big arsenal.
The largest Western companies, Shell and BP included, have been bullied, intimidated and forced into concessions by the Kremlin and its cronies. This week a Moscow court joined in the harassment, targeting the head of BP’s troubled joint venture in Russia.
This is a country that defaulted on its overseas debts less than ten years ago; a country that, after its journey from feudalism to kleptocracy via totalitarian communism, has little truck with Western-style capitalism; a country alive with corruption and not averse, it has been suggested, to the occasional state-sponsored murder. Hardly the ideal recipient of Western capital, you might think.
(Excerpt) Read more at business.timesonline.co.uk ...
I hope Condi no longer forgives Russia and Bush realizes that Putin has no soul.
Ping!
Russians used to say that KGB stood for Kontora Grubix Banditov: The Office of Crude Bandits.
KGB Putin is surely living up to that reputation. Poisoning defectors, assassinating reporters etc. Now Georgia.
Yes, Russia turned into a state-mafia. This is what happens when totalitarian spooks take over a country.
BP shut down some majors over this. Any updates? Seems as though they are trying to drive the price of oil up and influence the liberal Americans. Is it going to work on the deaths of Georgians?
Friend of mine, an American businessman of long experience, was wiped out economically when Putin came to power and his thugs took over my friend’s successful small business. The consequences of disobeying were very clear.
For a while there, it did look as if Putin was attempting to reform Russia and solidify the free market and democracy in that country...
And then he went and nationalized the oil companies, closed down media outlets that criticized him, and invaded Georgia.
Well, after all that - that’s certainly change we can believe in... Just not the change we hoped for or expected.
I had some contacts and Russian friends about 6 years ago or so and looked forward to some business in Russia, but then I got to know the country and the people a little better ....NYET!
This is a big strategic mistake, though.
I love the Russian people. It’s just Putin I don’t like.
FACT: Most corrupt business mafiosos escaped to Britain to avoid jail time in Russia.
FACT: Both Britain and the US are infested with corrupt business executives.
FACT: Russia has had a little over 15 years to switch over to and revive a free market economy...and have done magnificently well given the ingenious ways the Clintonista/Soros pimps attempted to financially gang rape Russia in the 90s.
FACT for those who deliberately forget: the Georgian punk socialists attacked South Ossetia and bombed and killed many people there before Russia liberated the region.
FACT: The Left is either mysteriously silent or siding with the Georgian lunatic -— right there should be a warning sign to the conservatives that something is amiss. That this is not a “cold war redux” and that not allying with Russia is a historic error of the west.
Yes one can generalize about people. Clinton botched the entire end of the Cold War, but I am not sure Russians can escape being Russian in their own country and I find the expatriates I know boring in their defense of “poor, misunderstood Rus” .Ukrainians are more my kind, and will accept no compromise in their memory of Uncle Stalin and his brutal “children”. Part of the problem for the Free States, former satellites, is the large numbers of Russians sent intentionally into them in various “Russification campaigns”. I used to feel some concern for them, after the fall of the old Empire, surrounded by people who usually outnumbered them and for sure, resentful of their former masters.But if they are going to be the source of justification(and of course Putin and his Generals would find another canard in their absence), and even be instigators , agitators and provocateurs(Proxies for the Kremlin), I will have to side with the free people who wish no return to Russian domination and tyranny.
If the Russian people can rid themselves of Putin , more power to them, but I think they miss power, its something better to them than freedom. If someone else has to give their freedom up, to give them the power, well, I think they can justify that, its something even the venerated Solzhenitsyn loved the idea of.
Russia is a dying country. It's population is dropping like a stone so much that they even offer bribes to people who have babies. Perhaps these loyal Russians should return for the sake of Mother fn Russia instead of causing trouble where they are a minority.
Yeah, I know they were sent for that very purpose to make the next invasion excuse, but it isn't working out quite the way the slavering Bear figured... Maybe they'd feel more comfortable, useful and happier at home.
The attempt to realize those soulful desires in direct contradiction to reality has cost us more than we can accurately calculate right now. I'm hoping we can overcome it. Facing reality (as I think they have done) is a good start.
Obamaesque?
You are a loony tune Russian stooge. No one here agrees with that
Best indication is that Putin and his thugs are destroying Georgia. They are not happy enough with South Ossetia.
This invasion has been planned for months
Now Putin is threatening Poland and Ukraine. Poland will tell the Russians to go ____ themselves. Poland will never submit again to Russia
One estimate is Vlad is worth 100 billion. Robert Maxwell is a nothing compared to that
Fact:You are sadly misinformed
Fact: You are a russian shill that needs to get off this forum and tow the putinista line elsewhere
Fact:No one in the civilized world cares or believes what you say.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.