Re: Ceaucescu and Romanian transition

["Chris Doss" <nomorebounces@xxxxxxx>]

>
> There was a very interesting article in the  Financial Times several months
> ago that the only course really open to the current Russian "oligarchs" was
> the sale of "their" corporate assets to international companies.  The
> oligarchs, the FT reported candidly, had obtained their businesses through
> fraud, flim-flam, etc and were not really interested or competent to manage
> these operations.  Thus sale at the current height of the oil-induced
> recovery was the future.

There is a man in a cell in Matrushina Tishina prison who can tell you that such sell-offs are not a very wise move in contemporary Russia...

>
> Clearly, Putin represents interests opposed to that future, but his opposing
> interests are no less capitalist, and Putin's power depends on that
> representation and not his ability to "run the country."

Putin and the dread "siloviki" (God do I hate that word) have a state-dirigiste model of capitalist development. We'll see what happens to the shares of Yukos that were frozen. I suspect they will either go to the state or to someone (Abramovich?) who can serve as a proxy for the state. Yukos will be like an oil Gazprom.

>
>  Quick tip to businesspeople enroute to Russia:  When in Moscow, in-room
> movies are the safe entertainment choice.  Avoid theaters.

Hu? Why? I go to movie theaters all the time.