Gary Kasparov has been uncovering similarities between Russian state and the structure of Cosa Nostra for quite some time. He continues this theme in the today's post on Davos and the BP deal.
Indeed. All these lucrative google and microsoft stock options are eventually paid by people forced to sell their homes to pay for health care and food.
Ternovskiy had told no one he was taking the Sunday-afternoon flight out of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport. But when he arrived in New York he found a car from Digital Sky Technologies, the Russian company, waiting for him at the airport. From the driver, he learned that an associate of Yuri Milner was already on his way to New York to talk to him. Back in Moscow, Milner repeatedly called Vladimir, a contemporary of his in college, and urged him to get his son to coöperate.
Andrey, ensconced in a New York hotel, was scornful. “Is that even appropriate for an investor?” he asked me. “Harassing and hounding are the only words which come to mind.”
DST is a money laundering operation. Yuri Milner is a criminal.
I can't believe Paul Graham deals with these guys. He should understand that Russia is outside of his circle of competence. His smarts are not enough to make the judgement.
Russia gets roughly $90B annually for oil and gas. Most of the money gets stolen one way or the other and ends up in the funds like DST.
Also see http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2155637