[H]omer wrote:
> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> > __/ [ Da'Punk-A ] on Saturday 24 June 2006 11:29 \__
> >> [H]omer wrote:
>
> >>> 'Bout time the international law makers and governments did
> >>> something about these scum.
>
> >> Are you serious? Ever since the end of Soviet communism, organized
> >> crime has been the own growth industry in Russia, its biggest
> >> export,and some say its de facto government. And there's nothing
> >> "the international law makers and governments" can do about it.
>
> How about ICANN just dumps the Russian ccTLD for a start.
>
> Seriously though, just because a problem is overwhelming, doesn't mean
> that nobody should even try.
>
> > ,----[ Snippet ]
> > | So great is the official level of concern about AllofMP3 that
> > | American trade negotiators darkly warned that the Web site could
> > | jeopardize Russia's long-sought entry into the World Trade
> > | Organization.
> > `----
>
> Just one of many things that could be used to leverage compliance on a
> number of issues.
>
> And when they're finished with Russia, they might like to take a look
> at the far-east too.
>
> ,----[ partial quote ]
> > | In the next decade we will likely see more corperations attempting
> > | to persade goverments into taking serious actions (legal or not)
> > | for their benifit, and we're already seeing the very beginnings of
> > | this trend.
> > `----
>
> I really don't care if the motivation finally comes from the private
> sector, as long as the final result is the annihilation of these scum
> from the face of the planet.
I don't know who'll remember this, but when Putin became Russian
Premier (President?) he was hailed as an honest guy who would clean up
Russian politics, clamp down on crime etc. But things haven't improved
at all. If anything, they've got worse.
Russian politics really does seem to be thoroughly compromised by
organized crime. I think a heck of a lot of politicians are
bribed/financed by crooks, or are major crooks in their own right.
Petty criminals, domestic murderers, the Russian mafia's foot soldiers
and unprotected gangsters take taken down - and when the police there
do move in, they are chillingly effective - but I don't think there's
much prospect of the authorities taking action against themselves.
And as for other countries taking action - for one thing, most
governments /want/ to be involved with Russia economically. There's a
huge population of consumers to exploit. So, there's an immediate
disincentive to ostracizing Russia economically. Secondly, how can you
/force/ Russia to do anything? If the country's leaders are as
compromized as I've suggested, they will fight fiercely to defend their
position. They certainly won't go quietly if it looks like they'll be
punished for their activities. And Russia is a major military power, a
nuclear power, and they have a number of allies round the world due to
their willingness to sell arms to countries that are, shall we say,
"shady".
Cleaning up Russia is something that will take a very long time, and
that will have to be done gradually. I may be wrong - I never thought
communism would vanish as suddenly as it did - but when politics and
crime are as interetwined as they seem to be in Russia, there's no
incentive to reform and lots of reason not to.
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