When the facade of the USSR fell, the former KGB officers simply threw away the blue shoulder boards, but kept operating as they always had, as “Russia’s Mafia.”
Now they have come full circle and run the country. Putin’s regime does not have “close ties” to the Russian mafia. They ARE the Russian Mafia, and always have been.
Exactly The KGB are everything in Russia. State, Corporate and even the church in Russia. I was stunned to learn the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church is a billionaire. As goody for their loyalty Putin gave the ROC the duty free cigarette racket. You can’t get any more mafia than a deal like that.
Most troubling is the willingness of Putinists to commit wanton mass murder to achieve political goals. This latest outbreak of Russian chauvinism won’t end well if there is not a will to confront them. That’s why our Putinist fifth column is so insidious. This isn’t a parlor game. This is real life. Thousands has been killed by this regime and more die every day. Putin must be stopped.
You are so right. I've been saying for some time that international relations is a serious game played for keeps by determined adults.
The rest of the world laughs at 0bama, Clinton and now Kerry as our representatives in this most serious and deadliest of games. I study history, quite a bit. And I can say that I cannot think of a major power ever having been led by a less competent group of people than our current regime.