Russians want to make up with the West
In presenting the latest Levada Center poll on Russian attitudes toward the West, the center’s Aleksey Grazhdankin says that a majority of Russians think that the initiative for improving East-West… Read more »
Category: KLEPTOCRACY
China’s ‘Great Leap Backward’
A bipartisan strategic assessment underlies a widely-shared assumption about the likely direction of China’s development, notes a leading analyst. This was not the simplistic faith that if China became richer,… Read more »
How to stop corruption, curb kleptocracy
This week’s protests in Malaysia have again highlighted the political pathologies associated with rampant corruption and kleptocracy. Even in advanced liberal democracies like the UK, kleptocrats are using London’s property… Read more »
Why Ukraine is losing the war on kleptocracy
Few politicians in the world have had to undergo the same experience twice in their career and in different countries, notes Mikheil Saakashvili, the president of Georgia from 2004 to… Read more »
What the West can do to contain Russia’s aggression, disinformation
Even before the December 2011 protests — and his own reelection as president in March 2012 — Vladimir Putin had begun signaling the return of a more authoritarian and aggressive… Read more »
“State of Capture” report highlights South Africa’s kleptocracy fears
A damning report into corruption allegations against South African President Jacob Zuma was published Wednesday as demonstrators calling for him to quit marched in the streets of the capital, CNN… Read more »
Ukraine stunned as political elite’s vast wealth made public
An anti-corruption reform requiring senior Ukrainian officials to declare their wealth online has exposed a vast difference between the fortunes of politicians and those they represent, Reuters reports: Some… Read more »
Kremlin’s modus operandi – ideology or kleptocracy?
As the Kremlin gears up for Vladimir Putin’s last re-election bid in 18 months, anti-graft crusader Alexei Navalny (left) has emerged as the conduit of choice for rival factions to… Read more »
Leonardo DiCaprio cooperating in kleptocracy probe
Leonardo DiCaprio is aiding the investigation into a Malaysian embezzlement scam that involved his hit film about financial market fraud, “The Wolf of Wall Street,” AFP reports: The Hollywood star… Read more »
China’s decentralized kleptocracy: dynamics of regime decay
In 1989 the movement for democracy brought the Chinese Communist Party to within days of extinction, The Economist notes: According to official reports, on one day alone, May 22nd, 6m… Read more »