Russia might one day become as corrupt as Greece! Andrey Makarevich, a popular rock legend, has sent Putin an open letter asking him to deal personally with the overwhelming corruption in Russia. Welcome to Putinland, where the president and premier swap jobs at will,
where the constitution is an empty shell and all power rests with Vladimir Putin. The deal between Putin and Medvedev is a farce that will eventually transform Putinland to Putanaland! The proud Russian nation is now a czardom. Russian democracy is gone with the wind. http://venitism.blogspot.com
Russokleptocrats might become as corrupt as Graecokleptocrats, who span the gamut of political corruption. Bribe is the gift bestowed to influence the recipient's conduct. Kickback is a payment to a person in a position of power or influence for having made an income possible. Embezzlement is outright theft of entrusted funds. Patronage is favoring supporters. Nepotism is favoring kin. Cronyism is favoring kith. Graft is an unscrupulous use of a politician's authority for personal gain. The freakish government of Greece stole my computer!
Greece is the queen of political corruption in Occident. The freakish government of Greece stole my computer and my life! The impunity of the 300 MPs of the Grand Brothel of Democracy on Syntagma Square is the most freakish thing on Earth. Even though Graecokleptocrats loot many billion euros in bribes and churning, Graecokleptocrats cannot go to jail! Graecokleptocrats are protected by the parliamentary immunity, and nobody can touch them, no matter what. Moreover, they have the nerve to jail dissident bloggers. It's a long way from the 300 Spartans of Leonidas! Allons enfants de la Grece! http://venitism.blogspot.com
Makarevich writes that due to his job he had traveled extensively around Russia and learned about the disastrous corruption. The size of kickbacks has risen from 30 per cent five or six years ago to 70 per cent, and even 95 per cent in one case.
The double-headed eagle of Putin and Medvedev has become increasingly authoritarian. Despite numerous commitments under international law, the government has tightened controls on political life, civil society, and the media. Disruption of political opposition's activities, restricting access to state-controlled TV, human right violations, such as the beating of demonstrators who support the Russian
constitution, murder of journalists and anti-corruption activists, disappearance
and torture, abuse of the legal system for monetary and political gain, all
illustrate this negative trend. Putin, a former penniless KGB agent, is now
billionaire, thanks to kickbacks!
Makarevich writes that he expects Putin to tell him to turn to court with his complaints and facts proving the crime, but as the Russian court system is also corrupt there is no other option but to turn to the president, as any serious changes in Russian lives are now made only by Putin's decision, his word or his glance.
Makarevich also warned that if the dangerous tendency is not changed the country would face a total catastrophe. Makarevich says that he wrote the letter as it has reached a critical mass. It has all been gathering for some time, but then the cup overflows. Makarevich supports the politician Mikhail Prokhorov and the Pussy Riot.
Graecokleptocrats have made their culture of corruption the norm of the national character of Greece. The debasement of the Greek soul is due to huge political corruption, statist propaganda, and religulous brainwashing. The freakish government of Greece stole my computer and my life! Plato and Aristotle asserted that different regimes produce different types of human beings, and regimes ought to be judged by the character of their citizens. In Fourth Reich, the growth of interventionist welfare state has damaged personal responsibility and integrity, fostered dependence, undermined families, rejected freedom, and promoted corruption.
In Greece, the most corrupt country in Occident, political corruption is accepted as a normal thing, and most Greeks rely on bribes, graft, sinecures, cheating, incivility, nepotism, cronyism, cancer of socialism, jingoism, iconolatry, perjury, lies, and kickbacks. The character of modern Greece is the opposite of the character of ancient Greece of Plato and Aristotle. The freakish government of Greece stole my computer!
In April 2010, Putin signed a decree that suspended the publication of information about the assets, revenue, and expenditure of Russia's two oil funds. This allowed him to manipulate government's finances, while launching a pre-election spending spree, siphon off money for friends and allies, and camouflage bribes, kickbacks, and hush money. He boosted military and police spending by 33 percent, and promised future pay and pension increases for the armed forces, teachers and doctors. Putinlandians have been fleeced, pure and simple.
Commented on Makarevich's letter, Putin says he understands the obvious task of fighting corruption, but stresses that it cannot be done by repressive measures only. Putin advises Makarevich to write another letter addressing the businessmen as such situations are often served up by them. Putin declares that corruption is a problem in all economies in a transitional period as there is no agreement on many legal and economic questions in such economies.
One of Putin's palaces is on a thickly wooded mountainside overlooking Russia's Black Sea coast. It was built with massive and illegal use of funds. The palace boasts swimming pools, a magnificent columned facade reminiscent of the country palaces of Russian czars. The massive wrought-iron gates into the courtyard are topped with a golden imperial eagle. Outside are formal gardens, a private theatre, a landing pad with bays for three helicopters, and accommodation for security guards.
Once a powerful oil tycoon and Russia's wealthiest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky ran foul of the Kremlin after funding opposition groups and condemning high level corruption. He remains in prison on politically motivated charges of tax fraud and theft.
Bill Browder's tax attorney Sergei Magnitsky was tortured to death in Moscow's notorious Matrosskaya Tishina detention center. Magnitsky died in jail awaiting trial on fabricated charges of tax evasion and tax fraud. He was jailed after he accused Russokleptocrats of a sophisticated swindle to obtain a $230 million tax rebate from the Russian treasury. Magnitsky died after he was denied medical care and beaten by the guards. However, those involved have not been punished, but have remained in power, and some have even been decorated or promoted!
The case has turned a spotlight on Putin's harassment of businesses and investors. Putin has thrown over 200,000 businesspeople in jail. Browder had a Damascene conversion, becoming a human rights crusader in addition to a hedge fund manager. The US Senate introduced a bill and OSCE issued a recommendation to impose harsh sanctions against Russia, forbidding those officials responsible for Magnitsky's death from entering Occident, and freezing their bank accounts.
Vladimir Ashurkov published a list of the top donors to a fund set up by anticorruption blogger Alexei Navalny, after persuading some tycoons, whom he dubbed the brave ones, to break a taboo against overt support of Putin's adversaries. Ashurkov's strategy is to gather a critical mass of supporters who would openly enlist in an anticorruption revolt.
Navalny gained fame on Russia's blogosphere investigating minority shares in Russian state companies to expose corruption, a major source of middle-class disgruntlement and the Achilles heel of Putin's government. Discontent is growing throughout the entire population, and of course more so among the elite, who are used to travelling to the West and understand that Russia deserves a much higher standard of living and freedom than it has now.
Putin dismisses the street protesters, branding them chattering monkeys and pointing to their lack of a clear leader. The Kremlin has embarked on only limited political reforms in response to recent demonstrations, which attract 100,000 people on the streets of Moscow. But the protest movement has deprived Putin of his aura of invincibility, and Ashurkov hopes going public with Navalny's sponsors will inspire others to join his cause, despite the risk that their businesses could come under state pressure. Their message is that these people are not afraid, and you shouldn't be afraid either.
Faced with a simmering, underground opposition, Putin and Medvedev expanded the powers of Putinland's Federal Security Service (FSB). The security services issue individuals of whom they are suspicious with official warnings, inviting them to precautionary talks with the FSB to prevent the possibility of the citizen committing a criminal act against the country's security in the future. Refusing or failing to attend these precautionary talks lead to a fine of 1,500 euros or detention for as long as 15 days.
There is a big difference between the Soviet era and today's Putinland. The Soviet
state spread the atmosphere of fear to prevent emergence of politics and
people's participation in it. Today, the key for the state authorities is to
make sure people are not interested in politics. A person who doesn't care about
politics or the situation with human rights in Putinland may live a comfortable
life without ever encountering an FSB officer. What suffers the most is
democracy in Putinland; the Kremlin is interested in stability, not democracy. http://venitism.blogspot.com
