Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog

OP-ED: "Target the Kremlin Pocketbooks," by David B. Rivkin and Carlos Ramos-Mrosovsky, Washington Post, 27 August 2008, p. A13.

Good line that reflects my thinking:

The oligarchy's widespread corruption, disrespect for rule of law and embrace of globalization make it a perfect target for Western "soft power."

Specific ideas involve holding up all top Russian transactions to minute inspection re: any legal irregularities.

Point being, "Russia's governing elites place their personal interests ahead of Moscow's raison d'etat."

More:

The fusion of private business interests and state policy in today's Russia differs from the endemic corruption of Soviet times ... Russia is a member, albeit a thuggish one, of the global economic system. Bereft of any significant civilian manufacturing, Russia's economy depends on natural resources exports. As a result, Russia, though grotesquely corrupt, is tightly plugged into global financial and commercial networks. The shady cadre running modern Russia has embraced globalization. These "Chekist oligarchs"--to distinguish them from the Western-oriented robber barons who rose in the 1990s, only to be purged by Putin--increasingly dominate lists of the world's richest individuals.

This fusion model of Russia's is not that different from China's--just coupled with Russian political paranoia. Both need to be housebroken by the global economy/Core in coming decades. China's moving in that direction nicely, Russia's system far more slowly.

But now Georgia gives us a great "teachable moment" here, assuming we don't go overboard or militarize the response unduly.

All levers, my friends, all levers.

We don't want to demonize Moscow's oligarchs as anti-globalization elements a la radical Islam. We want to make clear to them the cost-benefit ratio.

Good stuff.

After the huffing and puffing, the real thinking emerges.