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Economics

Proč se zastavovat u ruských oligarchů?

Mar 21, 2022 Yanis Varoufakis

ATÉNY – Sotva Roman Abramovič, kterého se nově dotkly britské sankce proti ruským oligarchům, oznámil, že prodává fotbalový klub Chelsea, strhla se mela. Sportovní hvězda, mocní magnáti, a dokonce i jeden respektovaný komentátor Times, z nichž každý reprezentoval různé americké multimiliardáře, se sjeli do Londýna v překotné snaze koupit tento klub. Řada londýnských nemovitostí patřících ruským oligarchům mezitím vstoupila do procesu likvidace, který měl započít už dávno. Co tomu tak dlouho bránilo?

Řečeno bez obalu: právní základy Západu.

Pravda je taková, že západní lídři příliv ruských peněz dříve podněcovali. David Cameron, tehdejší britský premiér, vyzval v roce 2011 moskevské publikum, aby „investovalo“ v Británii. Přesvědčit oligarchy, aby zaplavili Londýn svými penězi, přitom nebylo těžké. Legislativa západních zemí totiž brání vládám a veřejnosti nejen narušovat bohatství přechovávané v daném právním prostředí, ale dokonce i vědět, kde a kolik tohoto bohatství je. Proč by se jinak bezpočet korporací registroval v americkém státě Delaware a jako adresu používal poštovní přihrádku, která majitelům zaručuje anonymitu?

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0 Comments on this paragraph, 27 Comments on this article

Adrian Wu Mar 28, 2022

The real difference between Western Oligarchs and their counterparts in Russia and China is this; The Western Oligarchs have complete control over their governments once they have control over the media, the financial industry and political financing. Their countries' laws protect their interests. Ironically, autocratic leaderships have less need for such patronage, and leaders such as Putin have more control over his Oligarchs. That's why sanctioning Russian oligarchs will have much less chance of changing Putin's behaviour, whereas the West sanctioning their own oligarchs will be unthinkable since these same oligarchs are the real power brokers behind the scenes.
- Viswanathan Suresh Mar 28, 2022
  
  You forget that oligarchs come from non-Western countries as well. There are Saudi, African, Indian and even Chinese oligarchs who bend and break the law and are protected by their Western sponsors.
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Robert REYNOLDS Mar 28, 2022

Thank you for this excellent (as usual) article Yanis.

What you describe and rail against is simply nothing more than capitalism being, .... well, ....., capitalism. The robber barons and greed merchants, (call them what you like, oligarchs, plutocrats or kleptocrats, etc) will always be with us while we have this economic system.

Best of luck with your efforts with DIEM also.
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Viswanathan Suresh Mar 27, 2022

The West's attitude to these oligarchs is reminiscent of Franklin D Roosevelt's characterisation of Nicaragua's brutal dictator and thug Anastasio Somoza.

Thus, Saudi oligarchs get a free pass whilst Russian oligarchs face a different music. But then hypocrisy has always been a cornerstone of Western foreign policy hasn't it ?
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Srilata Gangulee Mar 27, 2022

Thank you, Professor Varoufakis for pointing out the similarities between the "democratic" West and "dictatorial" Russia. As long as the companies can donate money to the political parties in the US, I don't think any changes will take place. Perhaps the Russian oligarchs now will invest in the US just the oligarchs from elsewhere have on New York.
- Viswanathan Suresh Mar 28, 2022
  
  Don't companies donate money to political parties in India ?
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Stephen King Mar 27, 2022

More bluntly, the West failed to understand the scope and intent of Russia/China's determination to destroy world democracies, even when reasonable and credentialed people were warning the west of the coming takeover. We were asleep at the wheel and just now beginning to be Woke.
- Tom W Mar 29, 2022
  
  The term "Woke" is not typically used in this manner.
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- Adrian Wu Mar 28, 2022
  
  No need for Russia or China to destroy Western democracy. They are doing a great job themselves. Their democracy has already long been hijacked by their military-industrial complex and their corrupt elites. It is just a house of cards waiting to collapse.
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William Neil Mar 27, 2022

"Nobody knows the trouble I see, nobody but Jesus." I'm not religious these days, but these the words from an old black spiritual from the days of slavery came to mind for these reasons, touched upon by Yanis V. Full disclosure: I've called Mr. Varoufakis "the Winston Churchill of the European Left" which I doubt he would accept in formal title.
But his posting here was right on target; I don't know how many readers of PS saw the comment of President Biden to the troops of the US's 82nd Airborne Division in Poland, but Biden stated he didn't want to get "philosophical," but the fight in Ukraine was about "democracy vs oligarchy." I gasped for obvious reasons. That comment disappeared and was replaced by "democracy vs autocracy." A little better.
I'll save the contrast between Biden's closing sentence in Warsaw yesterday compared to Yanis' call for a settlement, the only sound basis of which would be each of the parties getting less than they want at this point" - for another time.
- Adish Jain Mar 28, 2022
  
  Please do not give Mr. Varoufakis a misplaced title of "the Winston Churchill of the European Left".
  Remember Churchill wanted to continue his brutal empire and also escaped war crime tribunal (due to the victory of allies) for ordering killing of German civilians en mass. (so did the USA). And the left, more so communists, have killed over 80 millions of their own people world wide (Stalin, Mao, Pot Pol, etc.). Mr. Varoufakis has exposed the hypocrisies of west .
  - Viswanathan Suresh Mar 28, 2022
    
    I am broadly in agreement with the thrust of what you say Mr Jain.
    
    However, mass murders, ethnic cleansing, forced population transfers and other atrocities are not the monopoly of any ideology, person or nation - they seem to be universal. And sadly so. Thus, the ordinary Afghan gets killed in the name of Communism by the then USSR and then in the name of democracy or anti-terrorism by the US & its allies; the Vietnamese peasants get napalm bombed by Americans; the Tibetans see their country getting annexed by the Chinese and their lands are seized; Hitler & his pal Mussolini - incidentally the inspiration for India's own RSS and the BJP - perpetrate the Holocaust on European Jews; the European Jews in turn do their own ethnic cleansing in lands they seize in the Middle East; the Islamic Janjaweed fighters wreak havoc on the animist & Christian south Sudan; light skinned, Muslim Punjabi soldiers of West Pakistan commit a genocide on dark-skinned Bengali Muslims in erstwhile E.Pakistan; India sees its own blood-letting on a large scale during the Partition of the 1940s; Yugoslavai experiments with its version of ethnic cleansing and Srebrenica stands as a monument to man's brutality to man in the heart of Europe; Bush fils rains death on Iraq and promptly screams "Mission Accomplished"; Putin bombs Ukrainian maternity hospitals ... the list is endless.
    
    And meanwhile, Will Smith punches comedian Chris Rock during the Oscars before picking up an Oscars himself. I guess a lot of politicians need to get the Oscars too for the lies they glibly perpetrate on a gullible populace.
    
    Mr Jain - nobody, no ideology, no religion, no country seems to have a monopoly on violence.
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giuseppe mascoli Mar 25, 2022

Very good article, just a note on Aristotle idea of Oligarchy, despite the name he makes clear that oligarchy is when money rules, while the definition of “ the few” is an incidental and by-product factor. This is relevant to avoid confusion with the vague concept of Elite, and very topical now. Oligarchy following this definition can exist in different shells, including in the shell of a formal democracy.
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Panos Adamopoulos Mar 23, 2022

Yanis's position although very pragmatic, nevertheless it does remain very philosophical if not oratorical... In a nut-shell the EU/US EcoNomoPoliticoEcoLogical status quo and direction is well known & accepted since at least 2008... "Robin Hood & His Merry Men" in the late middle age England, used to rob from the wealthy and give it to the poor; while the wealthy used to accumulate their wealth through the Crusades.... nowadays, "Merry Men" rob from the wealthy and give it to some other wealthy thru "Racketeering & Profiteering"... there is escape not only hope... www.1888CE.net
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Mar 22, 2022

This comment was removed by a moderator. Replies to this comment may also be deleted. Please note that we moderate comments to ensure the conversation remains topically relevant. We appreciate well-informed comments and welcome your criticism and insight. Please be civil and avoid name-calling and ad hominem remarks.
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Abdella Abdou Mar 21, 2022

'How about turning the empty London Mansions over to refugees from Ukraine and Yemen?' God bless you Mr. Varoufakis.
- Viswanathan Suresh Mar 27, 2022
  
  Were you being sarcastic Sir ?
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Proč se zastavovat u ruských oligarchů?

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