Dancing with the New Tsars
With their tricked-out yachts, trained servants and diamond-frosted toys, newly rich Russians have invaded London -- and thrown Britain's elite into a royal tizzy.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/06/12/new_tsars/index.html?source...
I try to keep it interesting.
From my outsiders perspective most of the oil wealth is fleeing the homeland and very little is going into improving the nation as a whole. Soon there will Potemkin villages popping up all over Russia, except this time it will be hard to pin down the guilty parties as there is no blood line succession.
Under the old regimes it was nigh on impossible to transfer money out from Russia. Also,most of the neuveau riche and ultra rich Russians have the blessing of the state. This can be fleeting as the ex billionaire chairman of Yukos Oil found out.. He was stripped of his assets and jailed.
Russian money is poring in everywhere. In Cyprus, Russians have been buying up real estate like no tomorrow.
it has been for over 15 years by now...
Strange how suddenly the nouveau rich are arising from the East. Wonder where all that potential was being suppressed and buried behing the Iron Curtain.
Motivation is when your dreams put on work clothes.
- Ben Franklin
I enjoyed reading it
It's interesting that there is 'old' $ and 'new' $. With the 'old' $, you can't just buy your way in.
Its all cyclic.. Once it was the Sheikhs, now its the Russians. They may not have the "class" or the "breeding", but they pour millions into the economy.
It's like the Nouveau Riche builders of the 90's. They made their money in the property market and used flaunt their wealth with mansions and baubles.