Irina Reznik — A Fallen Russia Oligarch Sends Warning to Rest of Putin Insiders

This is a revealing article with respect to the views of Russian elite and the American elite.

[Vladimir Yakunin] was one of the most powerful men in Russia for a decade, an old pal of the president who oversaw a million workers and a rail network spanning 11 time zones.

But then Vladimir Yakunin was suddenly out, ending a career that included a stint as an intelligence officer at the United Nations in New York during the Cold War. Now Yakunin, 67, has some parting advice for the remaining members of what he dismissed as Putin’s “so-called inner circle”: know your place.

“This circle will continue to rotate,” Yakunin said in his private office in Moscow during a 90-minute interview. Putin has yet to form a stable “ruling class like Russia had during czarist times,” the former head of state-owned Russian Railways JSC said.

This is reflective of the pre-revolutionary system in Russia in which the elite (boyars) vied with the Tsar for power.  The boyars were the feudal aristocracy that owned the means of production in the Agricultural Age. They were replaced by the plutocratic oligarchs that owned the means of production (financial capital and industrial capital) in the Industrial Age. Their goal was to expand their wealth, influence and power. The role of the Tsar was to bridle that in the interests of the country as a whole. A good Tsar represented the national interest from the viewpoint of all the people.

Of course, the elite resists this.

Some insiders are making the mistake of viewing their property and privilege as inalienable rights, but everything they have hinges on Putin’s shifting views of what’s good for Russia, according to Yakunin.

Duh.

He offered two examples from the president’s first term to illustrate the dangers of overreach.

“Remember what happened to Boris Berezovsky and Vladimir Gusinsky,” he said, referring to two post-Soviet oligarchs who lost their fortunes trying to influence Putin’s Kremlin the way they did Boris Yeltsin’s.

Remember than Yeltsin had allowed the oligarchs to loot Russia under the guise of neoliberal restructuring advocated by the Harvard boyz. There would be no Russian oligarchs without Yeltsin and the US advisors that recommended privatizing everything as quickly as possible based on the assumption of spontaneous natural order. The result was the rule of the Russian mafia that almost destroyed the country, which was arguably the intention of the US deep state. Whether there was a connection is unknown but the facts are suspicious.

Andrei Schleifer, Harvard professor of economics, who IDEAS/RePEc has ranked him as the top economist in the world,[2] and … is also listed as #1 on the list of "Most-Cited Scientists in Economics & Business" (Wikipedia), was "embroiled in a fraud scandal that cost Harvard $26.5 million to settle"(Harvard Crimson) without admitting guilt over his personal dealings in the course of advising Russian privatization.

The Russian economy and Russian society was on the point of disintegrating when Yeltsin's successor Putin stepped in and reversed the trend downward spiral.

Then the Bloomberg author expectedly inserts the USSR and communist memes.

Yakunin’s departure from the rail monopoly in August was the biggest shakeup in years within “the new politburo,” the highest authority under communism, and presages more to come, according to Olga Kryshtanovskaya, a sociologist who’s tracked the rise of the security services under retired KGB Colonel Putin.

Of course, it just might be that the guy was sacked (asked to resign) for poor performance.

The reasons Yakunin was kicked out of this exclusive club are disputed.…

Kryshtanovskaya, the sociologist, said it may have just been a matter of mismanagement at Russian Railways. The company had become bloated, inefficient and plagued by accusations of corruption, so new leadership was needed, especially with the economy mired in a recession, she said.

 The man picked to replace Yakunin, Oleg Belozerov, is a 46-year-old logistics specialist and deputy transport minister from St. Petersburg who has longstanding ties to the Rotenbergs.

Evgeny Minchenko, who runs the International Institute for Political Expertise in Moscow, said Yakunin was simply outmaneuvered by more aggressive insiders whose business interests were being hampered by the rail monopoly.

Then the kicker

Whatever the cause, Minchenko said one thing is indisputable: People close to Putin, who could extend his rule to a quarter century if he wins re-election in 2018, are increasingly focused on safeguarding their wealth and status to pass them on to their offspring.

Like the Western oligarchs from whom they have learned the rules of ownership and class

Still, nobody’s position but Putin’s will be secure until a governing elite like the one that existed before the Bolsheviks swept to power a century ago is fully formed, a process that may take decades, according to Yakunin.

“Trying to measure influence by proximity to political resources is a relic of the Soviet system,” he said.

That Putin as president is the one who stands for election and not the oligarchs is irrelevant in this way of thinking. The unelected oligarchs seem to think that they are entitled by privilege, just as did the aristocracy. This is a feature of capitalism, where ownership of capital as primary means of production replaced title based on land as primary means of production.

The key difference between Russia and the US seems to be that in Russia the oligarchs are determined by the political process while in the US the political process is determined by the oligarchs.

Bloomberg Business
A Fallen Russia Oligarch Sends Warning to Rest of Putin Insiders
Irina Reznik