You started talking about perception versus reality and now you're changing your argument to not being able to know how wide spread corruption is. Totally not like you to change your argument midway.
"I dont think anyone has a handle as to the true depth and breadth of political corruption."
No, the people behind the corruption index have a pretty good handle on corruption. Their analsis shows Putin's Russia is not only way more corrupt than Ukraine but that Putin's Russia is only getting more corrupt.
