|
|
Post by Marshall on Aug 30, 2023 7:34:56 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Cornflake on Aug 30, 2023 9:40:14 GMT -5
That was interesting. Thanks.
|
|
|
|
Post by majorminor on Aug 30, 2023 10:04:43 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by RickW on Aug 30, 2023 11:10:32 GMT -5
“But it was business. And, you know, the one thing you cannot do is interfere with business interests in a mafia state, which is what Russia is today. It is not just a dictatorship, an authoritarian system; it literally is a gangster state that Putin has created, and it lives by gangster rules.”
Very interesting article. The way he casts Putin in the end is telling, and the analogy with the Mafia seems spot on.
|
|
Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,889 
|
Post by Dub on Aug 30, 2023 11:30:19 GMT -5
Fascinating interview. Thanks. |
|
|
|
Post by david on Aug 30, 2023 11:41:52 GMT -5
"I think he doesn't mind killing people if he thinks that it advances his goals, but I don't think he particularly enjoys it."
I suspect that could describe most world leaders. However, most are more concerned than Putin with how bad a transparent assassination affects their public image.
|
|
|
|
Post by Cosmic Wonder on Aug 30, 2023 14:15:22 GMT -5
IF this opinion piece is true, and that’s sort of a big if, at some point business interests will stage a changing of the guard. And Putin may just fall off a talk building.
Mike
|
|
|
|
Post by james on Aug 30, 2023 15:12:18 GMT -5
The description of Putin's Russia as a "Mafia State" goes back many years. Russia observers Timothy Snyder, Masha Gessen and Luke Harding (who wrote a 2012 book about his uncomfortable years as a journalist resident in Russia called 'Mafia State') amongst others, have used the term.
|
|
|
|
Post by Cornflake on Aug 30, 2023 15:22:43 GMT -5
I keep thinking of the other passengers on the plane. Eight or nine I think it was.
|
|
|
|
Post by Marshall on Aug 30, 2023 18:44:47 GMT -5
They were all Wagner people. Great way to take out the leadership and not get blow-back.
|
|
|
|
Post by james on Aug 30, 2023 19:53:30 GMT -5
Some Wagner mercenaries could be a little less than gruntled.
|
|
|
|
Post by Cornflake on Aug 30, 2023 21:17:46 GMT -5
I didn't know they were all Wagner people. I'm not sure that really makes it any better.
|
|
