Russia seen as becoming a Mafia state

Russia seen as becoming a Mafia state: "Russia is a Mafia state. It is run by gangsters. It wasn't always this way. Vladimir Putin came into office in 2000 and he cracked down on corruption. Dozens of Russian oligarchs had gotten filthy rich during the 1990's as Russia moved towards capitalism. One of these oligarchs was Mikhail Khodorkovsky. He is Russia's richest man. In 2003, Putin arrested him, put him in a cage, and had photographers take pictures. This sent a message to all the other billionaire oligarchs in Russia and they towed the line by pledging allegiance to Putin. After that, Putin never again went after the oligarchs.

It turns out Putin wasn't interested in cracking down on corruption in Russia; he was only interested in cracking down on those that posed (or could pose) a challenge to his rule. Russia is pretty much run by alumni of the former KGB. There is less freedom there now than during the Yeltsin era. Journalists, lawyers, and human rights activists are arrested, imprisoned, tortured, and killed. Torontonians realize that President Obama is interested in working with the Russians, but they hope he will be more forceful in speaking out in support of Russians that wish to make their country more democratic. It would be helpful if the United States would provide as much support to those brave people as it does to reformists in Iran."

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