I've got more to say in this I'll post later, but I'm busy wright now. Real quick:
Brad writes:
And (14), (12), and (15) are sinister: to be in favor of tax evasion, to be in favor of Gazprom's special tax-free protected status--these are arguments that I cannot see anyone making in good faith, or in any context other than that of being a willing tool of Viktor Chernomyrdin. You can argue that Chernomyrdin is no worse than Chubais and company. But I've found no one willing to argue that he is any better.
--I write: Gazprom does not have a tax-free status (I'm sure it evades taxes, but that's a different story). Gazprom is the No. 1 supplier of taxes to the Russian budget. Which is one reason why the government is so reticent to break it up. Chernomydrin is evil, of course.
Brad writes:
More interesting is the question: How is V.V. Putin doing so well? 28% jumps in real GDP in four years...
I write: In a manner that runs quite contrary to my original expectations, which were that he would turn out to be horrible, I must in all honesty say that Vladimir Vladimirovich is kicking some serious ass, at least on the economic front and on the level of social consensus. He seems genuinely concerned about the state of the country and I think his constant appeals on the need to raise living standards for all the population is at least in part sincerely meant.
The current economic boom is based on high oil prices, growth in purchases of domestic goods (imports became prohibitively expensive after the ruble devaluation in 1998) and growing consumer purchasing power.
I'm also going to be a little bit Marxist here: The "primitive accumulation" period is over. Everything has been stolen that there was to steal. The oligarchs, at this stage, are more interested in protecting their property from up-and-coming would-be oligarchs/thieves than looting. They're still vicious bastards, but vicious bastards interested in stability.
Chris Doss The Russia Journal