Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

So many bastards, so little time.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

In after Baud. Damn.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Alexey Navalny and Vladimir the Underwear Poisoner

Alexey Navalny and Vladimir the Underwear Poisoner

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This post is in: 

“On February 2, during a hearing that will determine if he remains in prison for several years to come, opposition figure Alexey Navalny addressed the court, delivering a short speech in which he maintained his innocence and condemned Russia’s political and legal system for corruption and repression. Meduza publishes an English-language translation of Navalny’s courtroom remarks.”

Their translation of Alexey Navalny’s speech in court today:

I would like to begin by discussing the legal issue here, which seems to me to be paramount and a bit overlooked in this discussion. There are two people sitting right there and one of them is saying: let’s lock up Navalny because he showed up [to meet with his parole officers] on Mondays, not Thursdays. And the other says: let’s lock up Navalny because he didn’t show up immediately after coming out of his coma. But I would like everyone to remember that the essence of this trial is to lock me up over a case in which I was already exonerated — a case that’s already been recognized as fabricated.

If we look at the criminal statutes — your Honor, I hope you’ve already done this once or twice — we’ll see that the European Court of Human Rights is part [of the Russian justice system] and its decisions are binding. The Russian Federation halfway acknowledged this ruling and even paid me compensation here. Despite this, my brother spent 3.5 years in prison because of this same case. I spent an entire year under house arrest for this same case.

.

The explanation is one man’s hatred and fear — one man hiding in a bunker. I mortally offended him by surviving. I survived thanks to good people, thanks to pilots and doctors. And then I committed an even more serious offense: I didn’t run and hide. Then something truly terrifying happened: I participated in the investigation of my own poisoning, and we proved, in fact, that Putin, using Russia’s Federal Security Service, was responsible for this attempted murder. And that’s driving this thieving little man in his bunker out of his mind. He’s simply going insane as a result.

There’s no popularity ratings. No massive support. There’s none of that. Because it turns out that dealing with a political opponent who has no access to television and no political party merely requires trying to kill him with a chemical weapon. So, of course, he’s losing his mind over this. Because everyone was convinced that he’s just a bureaucrat who was accidentally appointed to his position. He’s never participated in any debates or campaigned in an election. Murder is the only way he knows how to fight. He’ll go down in history as nothing but a poisoner. We all remember Alexander the Liberator [Alexander II] and Yaroslav the Wise [Yaroslav I]. Well, now we’ll have Vladimir the Underpants Poisoner.

.

I’m standing here, guarded by the police, and the National Guard is out there with half of Moscow cordoned off. All this because that small man in a bunker is losing his mind. He’s losing his mind because we proved and demonstrated that he isn’t buried in geopolitics; he’s busy holding meetings where he decides how to steal politicians’ underpants and smear them with chemical weapons to try to kill them.

The main thing in this whole trial isn’t what happens to me. Locking me up isn’t difficult. What matters most is why this is happening. This is happening to intimidate large numbers of people. They’re imprisoning one person to frighten millions.

Such a brave and principled man.  I’ll leave it to smarter people than me to say more than that.

*zhena gogolia asked if we could front-page this

Reader Interactions

138Comments

  3. 3.

    zhena gogolia

    And it should be noted — he was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison (he will serve 2.5 [assuming he isn’t murdered] because he already served one year in house arrest).

  5. 5.

    zhena gogolia

    Sometimes the surreality of my existence hits me especially hard. Today, from the safety of New Haven, I’m messaging with journalist friends in Moscow who have been arrested and are literally texting me from inside a police van. pic.twitter.com/2dHjkiX9Fx— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) February 2, 2021

  10. 10.

    leeleeFL

    The courage of this man!

    Orwell comes to mind here.  “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

  11. 11.

    gwangung

    @zhena gogolia: 
    The privilege of most white Americans is kinda apparent here (as well as in the reaction of the Q-crowd). The expectation in most parts of the world is that of jail cells at best, truncheons at worst.

  14. 14.

    WaterGirl

    @rikyrah: I cannot fathom being brave enough to go back after they tried to murder me.

    I also can’t fathom being brave enough to protest in Russia.  That older lady who was crying as they were arresting her last week – and then the man who basically said “take me instead” – it left me in tears.

    How can people be this brave?  And how can others treat people like this?

  16. 16.

    zhena gogolia

    Amazing vid of protestors running away from police on Kuznetsky Most in Moscow.

    Протестующие бегут от силовиков на Кузнецком мосту. Как передает наш корреспондент, задержания уже началисьВидео: Маша Борзунова / Дождь pic.twitter.com/Oy6di0vKMO— Дождь (@tvrain) February 2, 2021

  17. 17.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    he’s busy holding meetings where he decides how to steal politicians’ underpants and smear them with chemical weapons

    What, do the world leaders do nothing but watch internet porn all the time? I can’t recall a period of history were so many national leaders were this pervy.

  18. 18.

    Tenterhooks

    Thanks for front-paging this. I am in awe of Mr. Navalny as well. Petty bureaucrat who accidentally fell into power is the perfect description of Putin.

  20. 20.

    geg6

    Been trying to comment for the last ten minutes.  Apparently whatever was plaguing other jackals has now hit me.  So I had to get the iPhone to comment.

    Anyway, Navalny and the protesters in Russia are my heroes.  So brave!  I am in complete awe.

  21. 21.

    Mary G

    I saw so many people protesting in below zero temperatures that I finally understand why Mr. Navalny went back to Russia. I thought it was nuts to return to the place where the guy in charge tried to kill you with a deadly neurotoxin, but I see that it was an act of heroic resistance that fired up millions of his country’s people to follow suit. Plus the opportunity for mocking. Putin is done and he knows it.

  22. 22.

    Dan B

    How much speculation is there that Navalney will not do well in prison?  Putin must be planning how long after this pseudo-trial will it be before the public has been subdued that Navalney will have an “accident” with a gang or a “health episode”.  I wish for justice to be unsparing with Vlad, Modi, Orban, Trump, Mitch, and their hangers on.

  23. 23.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Thank you, WG, for front-paging this (and thank you, ZG, for suggesting it be front-paged in the first place). I am in awe of naval training Navalny.

    ETA: Fixed a stupid Autocorrect thing, which I left in so you all could see just how stupid it was.

  24. 24.

    debbie

    I had to chuckle when I heard Navalny’s speech discussed on NPR this afternoon. I’d really like to see this evolve into a new nickname for Putin, namely the hero of a children’s books series, Captain Underpants.

  25. 25.

    zhena gogolia

    Kuznetsky Most has been cleared. Tonight’s protests appear to be over indeed. Nearly a thousand people arrested in Moscow (by @OvdInfo’s current count), many violently. Despite the anger about Navalny’s prison sentence, demonstrators were overwhelmingly peaceful. pic.twitter.com/JSQkXT4nKA— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) February 2, 2021

  29. 29.

    zhena gogolia

    Sorry, last one, I promise. This guy says a code word “Bryansk-Sever,” so they let him go. He must be undercover.

    Puzzling. A man being arrested in Moscow is suddenly released when he utters the words “Bryansk-Sever.” Кто-то знает о чем идет речь? это СМИ или кодовое слово, что ли? pic.twitter.com/B9P4tVvr3b— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) February 2, 2021

  35. 35.

    Bill Arnold

    @Sm*t Cl*de:

    Navalny is calling Putin a gnome.

    Application of poison is the secret second step in the Underpants Gnomes’ plan. Revealed, through gnomishlyclownishly bad OPSEC.

  36. 36.

    geg6

    I especially admire Navalny’s courage in using ridicule against Putin.  Pisses him off more than anything, I bet.

  38. 38.

    satby

    @zhena gogolia: Glad you asked for this to be front paged. Americans can get pretty myopic about what goes on in the rest of the world. Alexey Navalny is a hero not just in Russia, but all over the world.

  39. 39.

    Fair Economist

    It’s just boggling they’re imprisoning him for “violating parole” – by being flown to Germany when unconscious and on the verge of death.

  40. 40.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

     Moscow riot cops are now pulling people out of taxis and beating them up.

    The cops were always so nice in those “Police Academy” films

  41. 41.

    Nora Lenderbee

    I stole billions from the Russian people. Did they call me Vladimir the Billionaire? No. I put thousands of my enemies in jail. Did they call me Vlad the Jailer? No.

    But poison one pair of underwear !

  42. 42.

    Tony Jay

    A cowed and co-opted Media establishment bought and paid for by allies of the regime. A militarised security state operating outside the law and with zero accountability for crimes against civilians. A political class that serves at the pleasure of its donors and rubber-stamps whatever it’s given in return for the perks of office.

    That’s the future the authoritarian nationalists of the Right have planned for every country they get their claws into. Russia is just further along the arc than the countries most of us live in, but all the pieces are in place waiting for someone suitably venal and ambitious to pick them up and dare anyone to stop them going for it.

    No wonder people retreat to their bubbles. It takes some kind of moral fibre to do what Navalny is doing, knowing that most of his countrymen are just going to read about what a lying, treasonous POS he is regardless of what he actually says.

  43. 43.

    SiubhanDuinne

    AFAIK, President Biden* hasn’t nominated an Ambassador to Russia yet (please correct me if he has and I’ve just missed it). It will be interesting to see his choice.

    *I love typing “President Biden.”

  46. 46.

    prostratedragon

    @Mary G:  Yes, the demonstrators have convinced me too that it wasn’t just glorious folly for Navalny to go back.  May they ultimately get more democracy.

    (And Bravo! Chef Alexy for that fine, exceedingly small dice: “Vladimir the Underwear Poisoner.”)

  48. 48.

    burnspbesq

    This is exactly what Trump would have done to LTC Vindman if he had the means and the balls.

  49. 49.

    WaterGirl

    This is what love of country looks like.

    Putin loves power.

    Navalny loves is country, and he is willing to lay down his life for his country.  His wife, also.  I am in awe of their bravery.

    Navalny is showing his country the difference.

  52. 52.

    Mike in NC

    @Nora Lenderbee: I stole billions from the Russian people. Did they call me Vladimir the Billionaire? No. I put thousands of my enemies in jail. Did they call me Vlad the Jailer? No.

    This is exactly what Trump aspired to do here: steal everything not nailed down and lock up his critics. Trump was enough of a megalomaniac that he really thought he could be America’s Putin, a dictator for life who was above the law. At least half of elected Republicans were OK with it, too.

  53. 53.

    Lyrebird

    @zhena gogolia: No, I just don’t type well when I’m crying.

    I cannot imagine having .001 of this man’s courage.

    Did you see the little clip from St. Petersburg of the riot police hitting their shields to be scary, and the crowd of people starts clapping along like it’s a rock concert?

  55. 55.

    MattF

    @Mike in NC: I’m guessing that Trump’s intel briefings told him that Putin is the richest man in the world. The briefers probably didn’t realize Trump concluded that, therefore, he had to take orders from Putin.

  56. 56.

    Roger Moore

    @WaterGirl: ​
     

    How can people be this brave?

    Teaching people to be brave is a key part of civil disobedience. As a white person, I tend to see civil disobedience from the standpoint of it showing oppressors how horrible their actions are, but there’s an important flip side. The protestors are showing themselves that they won’t be intimidated by the oppressor’s threats. If you know you can survive being beaten up and thrown in jail, then the oppressor will have a much harder time intimidating you with the threat of beating you up and throwing you in jail.
    That intimidation is crucial to making the system work. There aren’t enough police and jail cells to beat up everyone and throw everyone in jail. If enough people can stand the amount of intimidation the government is willing to deal out, it can’t win that way. It either needs to raise the threat or fold.

  58. 58.

    MomSense

    @NotMax:

    HA!!

    i’m rooting for the protesters. They are heroes, though I fear Russia has gone too far into dictatorship to get out.

  59. 59.

    Old Man Shadow

    I hope the people of Russia arrange for a meeting very soon between Putin and the hangman and finally get a chance to live without a tyrant or tyrants living over them.

  63. 63.

    debbie

    @MattF:

    Colbert showed some of the report on Putin’s palace. Halfway through (he told us after the fact), he switched to interiors of Trump’s residence* and you couldn’t tell the difference. Both interiors were tacky and over-gilded.

    * NYC, I assume.

  65. 65.

    neldob

    What base cowards so many of the Republican representatives are.  That they can’t even say what they know is the truth because they might get a primary contest. Republicans; the party of craven, abhorrent liars. Navalny for Time magazine cover and Nobel prize. I admire his courage and will try to be more courageous myself. Some human beings are just amazing.

  67. 67.

    MoCA Ace

    @Roger Moore: There aren’t enough police and jail cells to beat up everyone and throw everyone in jail. If enough people can stand the amount of intimidation the government is willing to deal out, it can’t win that way. It either needs to raise the threat or fold.

    Unfortunately Vlad The Underpants Poisoner did not approve of Gorbachev’s “folding” and what it did to Mother Russia.  I predict raising the threat, again and again… until such time as one of his oligarchs gets squeamish about the bodies piling up and decides to intervene.  The we will see if Vlad get his own underpants in a bundle.  So to speak.

  69. 69.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    OT – If I were on the British Baking Show, I’d have to make at least one pudding covered with a savory meat based dish, and call it “The Wall”. When asked about it, I’d say “how can ya have any pudding if ya don’t eat yer meat?”

  71. 71.

    Dan B

    @Mike in NC: My partner was all excited this afternoon that some author on Thom Hartman (?) had a book on Trump being a full KGB agent.  I can believe he’s been recruited since his first visit in the 80’s (no source).  There are so many coincidences.  The loans from Russia and very likely money laundering through NYC real estate.  But I doubt that the KGB / FSB would tolerate such an undisciplined loose cannon.

  73. 73.

    Roger Moore

    @MoCA Ace:

    IIRC, Putin has said he plans to retire in the reasonably near future.  I’m not sure I believe him.  It’s rare and difficult for anyone with as many bodies on his ledger as Putin to retire successfully.

  74. 74.

    MoCA Ace

    @MoCA Ace:

    I suppose the least bloody way out is for other nations to apply enough economic pressure that the oligarchs reign in VTUP and/or see that he falls out of a high window.  Either way I fear Mr. Navalny’s  future is to be a martyr for the cause.

  78. 78.

    WaterGirl

    @Dan B: I saw something in the past few days that declared that Trump has been a Russian asset.  I forget the details, but someone describing what one of the Russian assets had done, and it was clearly something that Trump had done.  The details escape me.

    Wouldn’t surprise me one bit, though

    Trump is a weak, weak man.

  80. 80.

    zhena gogolia

    @WaterGirl:

    It’s a book by Craig Unger. I don’t think there’s anything new in it, just a synthesis of a lot of known stuff. He has some former KGB agents affirming it, but I don’t think they have direct knowledge.

  82. 82.

    Subsole

     

     

    @Dan B: Loose cannons are very good at damaging their own ship and killing its crew.

    Also, there’s nothing more dependable than a man whose soul is for sale to the highest bidder.

    I mean, really. Half of what made the last 4 years so unbelievable was the number of people shocked at the guy turning out to be what we knew he was from the jump. Not apalled, shocked.

  83. 83.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @zhena gogolia:. He has some former KGB agents affirming it, but I don’t think they have direct knowledge.

    I can also imagine Russian intelligence being quite happy to exaggerate trump’s relationship to KGB and its successor in order to sow more confusion, and discredit reports of the real relationship. I’ve seen speculation this happened with the Steele dossier.

  84. 84.

    Bill Arnold

    @Bill Arnold:
    Yeah, all three cases were “heart failure”; with two of them injection points were found in inspection of the bodies.
    There are a few ways to stop hearts that look like natural causes; that the FSB would stoop to poison suggests incompetence (perhaps plus absolute confidence in impunity), confirmed by how they keep getting p0wned by bellingcat and others.

  85. 85.

    Faithful Lurker

    @zhena gogolia: I’m reading Unger’s book now. He has direct evidence that Trump is a Russian tool, what they call a useful idiot, not an agent. The chapter that I found absolutely astounding was the account of Opus Dei, Stephan Hanson, the FBI agent turned traitor, and William Barr. It’s a well written book.

  86. 86.

    J R in WV

    @MattF:

    I’m guessing that Trump’s intel briefings told him that Putin is the richest man in the world. The briefers probably didn’t realize Trump concluded that, therefore, he had to take orders from Putin.

    No way. Trump was owned and operated by Russian intelligence from sometime around 1987. They took ownership of his balls back then, and controlled him and his family/organization until this day.

  88. 88.

    Geoduck

    Yeah, the Shaitgibbon is a useful Russian asset, but an active recruited agent? No, because he doesn’t need to be, and he’s so erratic, undisciplined and unpredictable.

  90. 90.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Geoduck: Yeah, the Shaitgibbon is a useful Russian asset, but an active recruited agent? No, because he doesn’t need to be, and he’s so erratic, undisciplined and unpredictable.

    and my mind literally can’t conceive of anyone easier to manipulate? “if someone says nice things about me, I’m going to be nice to them”

  91. 91.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Alejandro Mayorkas, the son of Jewish-Cuban refugees, just became the first Latino and immigrant to lead @DHSgov

     

  94. 94.

    Poe Larity

    This is known. What is not known are Russian ties to Boebert, Greene and McCarthy. It would be irresponsible to not speculate.

  96. 96.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    When I was a closeted teenager in the late 1990s there were no popular openly gay politicians like @PeteButtigieg. Instead, the [Tulsi] Gabbards were on TV in Hawai’i saying same-sex marriage is gross and should be illegal. We’ve come a long way.

    — Keola (@MrKeola) February 2, 2021

  100. 100.

    Dan B

    @schrodingers_cat: Yep.  That’s one of the reasons I don’t listen to Thom Hartman.  I love his knowledge of history and half of his vision but the other half: relentless “sky is falling” combined with “new conspiracy of the day@” gives my blood pressure fits.  I can’t speak to my partner when the GOD Hartman is on, but at least he wears headphones.

  101. 101.

    Jeffro

    *coughjustwaitingtotalkabout thefullBidenHarris CovidpackagethatDemsjustpassed with50votes*

    *coughorthefactthattheSenate STILLdoesn’thave anorganizingresolution

  102. 102.

    Dan B

    @MisterForkbeard: How about Godzilla and King Kong visit a big fancy house on the Black Sea?  Better TV and you could save boatloads on diplomats if the director promises sequels at the next few bad-boy Russian plutocrats houses.  Heck, even vacation homes would likely get Mrs. R. Plutocrats to light some fires under these  boys.

  105. 105.

    trollhattan

    Man oh man, Adam better be wrong about MTG becoming the Republican nominee. She needs to be dwelling alone in an Airstream on an iceberg.

    Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) mocked Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg as an “idiot” who “only talks when he is scripted” in a 2019 interview with a Georgia gun group, according to a previously unreported video obtained by NBC News.

    Said Greene: “He is very trained. He’s like a dog. He’s completely trained.”

    https://politicalwire.com/2021/02/02/greene-mocked-shooting-survivor-as-a-trained-dog/

    Been in office what, a month? and I’m out of can’t evens.

  107. 107.

    Mike in NC

    I’m currently reading a book by Malcolm Nance from 2019 — “The Plot to Betray America: How Team Trump Embraced Our Enemies, Compromised Our Security, and How We Can Fix It”. He’s written extensively on the Trump-Putin bromance and appears regularly on MSNBC.

  113. 113.

    The Pale Scot

    @MoCA Ace:

    Unfortunately Vlad The Underpants Poisoner did not approve of Gorbachev’s “folding” and what it did to Mother Russia.

    The West is responsible for what happened in Russia after Gorbachev. The US gov treated Russia as an emerging enemy. Critically the US did nothing to stop a crowd of college libertarians funded by think tanks to show up and yammer on about “privatization”. Privatization without a functioning judicial system is theft. Any chance of Russia transitioning to a private property economy was trashed by libertarian fuckheads operating under the cover of the GOP campaign against Clinton. The Clinton Administration just didn’t have the bandwidth to deal with Randian music men rampaging thru Russia. The first real opportunity to help Russians cast off their history of Czarist oppression was squandered.

  120. 120.

    WaterGirl

    @WaterGirl: I just saw that Durbin said they hadn’t whipped votes, but that they “had a good feeling” so they went with it.

    Not one Republican.

    What would have happened if the vote had been 49-50?  Could they have tried again?

  124. 124.

    Mike in NC

    @The Pale Scot:  The Clinton administration simply didn’t have a lot of interest in what was happening in Russia under Yeltsin. Then the Bush administration basically didn’t care at all.

  129. 129.

    Brachiator

    @The Pale Scot:

    The West is responsible for what happened in Russia after Gorbachev. The US gov treated Russia as an emerging enemy. Critically the US did nothing to stop a crowd of college libertarians funded by think tanks to show up and yammer on about “privatization”.

    The Russians were big boys and girls. No one forced them to obey libertarian weasels.

  131. 131.

    The Pale Scot

    @Brachiator:

    Russia was moving out of centuries of domestic maskerova. Only a tiny slice of the population had been exposed to non-government run news, or had exposure to western media. The ones that did were the KGB and other parts of the state apparatus. That is a very dismissive FUIGM type of statement

  132. 132.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    I hope some people abroad are at least as mad at Kremlin's perversion of justice against Navalny and other recently jailed activists as I am right now.

    Here's what you can do.
    1/5

    — Допросите Галадриэль ❤✊✌#NotOurTsar (@Mortis_Banned) February 2, 2021

  133. 133.

    Sebastian

    @J R in WV:

    They didn’t take his balls. They started flattering him. Told him he is the greatest, he should go into politics.

    A few days after his return to NYC he took whole page ads ranting against NATO etc

  134. 134.

    Brachiator

    @The Pale Scot:

    That is a very dismissive FUIGM type of statement

    Hmmm. No.

    There were people and groups in Russia who had no interest in establishing a democracy. They were able to ignore what they did not want to hear.

    Not too long ago, I listened to a historian of the region talk about how in Ukraine (the Ukraine?) and elsewhere former party officials seized and privatized government assets. So who got there first established ownership and control. Not a fair system of transforming the country into anything reasonably fair or honest.

    Did the UN or any Western agency offer help in transforming the former Soviet economy? Did Gorbachev or his successors ask for assistance? Was nationalistic pride at play? I would really like to know.

    I have watched nations do all kinds of stupid, self-destructive things. Even the US. The UK is tumbling into an economic wreck because of BREXIT, and they are doing it all by themselves.

    The Russian elite has had a long historical chip on their shoulder with respect to dealing with the rest of Europe. I suspect that there are a number of factors behind their social and governmental problems, not just the efforts of libertarian cowboys.

  135. 135.

    zhena gogolia

    @Brachiator:

    The Yeltsin government took a lot of advice from Jeffrey Sachs et al. They gave the economy “shock treatment,” which was a nice theory but disastrous for the country.

  136. 136.

    The Pale Scot

    @Brachiator:

    Did the UN or any Western agency offer help in transforming the former Soviet economy? Did Gorbachev or his successors ask for assistance?

    FFS, that was my point. The western govs treated Eastern bloc as mortal enemies having a bad day. The only “advice” was offered by RAND and CPAC fuckheads yammering about total instant privatization NOW. Of course the sliver of apparatchiks with real world experience were going to run the board. The West dropped the chance to oh say, avoid having a nuclear armed mobster warlord oil pumping regime manipulating their governments. But who knows, maybe this is the best possible outcome and I’m just a raving idealist

  137. 137.

    The Pale Scot

    @zhena gogolia:

    The Yeltsin government took a lot of advice from Jeffrey Sachs et al.

    Yes. I spent Saturdays in the library reading magazines that covered this in detail. Much of that didn’t get transferred to the Internet so all I have are memories. Of me saying Fuck! These idiots. Libertarian BS was the justification for all that shit. No rational Fin/Eco players spent a moment of interest

  138. 138.

    RaflW

    @MattF: Apparently Putin had to put out a statement that a good friend of his owns the estate. Which of course just draws more attention to the lavish private compound and the cozy network of insiders who get to horde all the stolen money.

    In effect, Putin owns the estate even if his name isn’t technically on the title (or however Russian oligarchs and autocrats claim ‘ownership’ besides just having all the armed guards).

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