Interesting review of a book in yesterdays Australian. "Russia in Four Criminals"
The author has spent time living in Russia.
"Crime as a Cornerstone of Russia"
Some excerpts from the article..
“It is now widely understood that the transition from the Soviet state to a post-communist Russia was badly managed. What was heralded as a shift from communism and dictatorship to a market economy and democracy turned into a fiasco for millions of Russians: the looting of state-owned assets, the rise of criminal empires, corruption on a staggering scale, then the rise to power of Vladimir Putin.”
“In this environment, veterans of the war in Afghanistan and former KGB toughs created criminal enterprises and protection rackets, Boris Yeltsin and his cronies accumulated ill-gotten fortunes; and the population at large survived as best it could.”
“The minimal requirements of a legitimate state are that it protects property and contract, so markets can work. Yeltsin’s state protected nothing. Putin then took over and simply became the master criminal, subordinating oligarchs and gang bosses to his rule.”
“When the USSR disintegrated, an epidemic of violence followed. Thousands of criminal gangs sprouted up. Gang wars erupted.”
The author gives a 10-page conclusion of what went wrong and “points to the Wests misunderstanding of Yeltsin and Putin over decades- and what will be required to bring a better state and society to Russia, if Putin can be transcended.”
