he’s ‘putin’ his arse on the line…
after my trip i’m finally catching up. here’s another interesting story i read about while on my trip to france. meet oligarch aleksandr lebedev. he’s a rich oil man, former kgb agent, and philanthropist that enjoys vacations abroad, art, schmoozing, and um, testing the will of prime minister vladimir putin. at a recent gathering of rich guys in russia, lebedev spoke publicly about putin’s “silly” cold-war style rhetoric and he blamed the recent stock market crash on russia’s kerfuffle with georgia. lebedev went even further by talking about forming a party with mikhail gorbachev to bring more democracy to russian life.
even though putin’s eyes may reveal a soul of a good man, his fists show the soul of an angry one. in the last few years, he has almost made it a personal mission to make the lives of outspoken oligarchs like lebedev pay for their foolish mumblings. according to the article: “russian oligarchs once had a powerful public voice in russian society, airing their views on their television stations and pouring money into political parties. but…putin…has hemmed in this once-unruly group, harshly punishing political challengers and leaving the rest of the oligarchs too frightened – or too closely tied to government – to protest publicly during a season that has dealt crushing blows to business.”
i thought the story was interesting because of the complete 180 (here we go again) degree difference between the united states and russia. in russia, business is afraid of government. in the us, government is afraid of business.
do you think the bailout will cause some sort of a shift?
If you enjoyed this post, subscribe to our rss feed, ' or leave a comment.Similiar Stories:
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment