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[Mithfindel]

Roden is kind of interesting. He kind of plays with multiple hands at once - on one side, he is the President, and uses the federal bureaucracy. Then, he likely has Roden Shipyards vessels to do his bidding, even if he's officially retired from that business. And then, finally, he's a capsuleer with capsuleer resources available. And possibly conditioned to the way capsuleers deal with matters (a healthy dose of paranoia and Machiavellism), something that isn't very common in the very highest tiers of "civilian" society.

Shakor and Jamyl are different, since neither one is primarily a corporate capsuleer - Shakor is a Freedom Fighter and Jamyl is an Amarr Heir. In a way, one of the few leaders who could be a direct match to Roden would have been Gariushi. (And no, Gariushi isn't a "good guy" despite his public image.)

[Lyn Farel]

Well, I don't know for Shakor, but Jamyl, as a Holder of the Imperial Throne : yes if I am correct the heir becoming emperor loses his House property (Ardishapur, Sarum, etc), and gets the exclusive ownership of the Imperial properties, probably of the throne itself and all the domains and lands below, but also of the imperial companies like Imperial Shipment, etc. I think. So maybe not a capsuleer, but an immensely powerful man (or woman here).

[Mithfindel]

I was more referencing to the background. Career politicians (Foiritain) do differ in experience from a corporate robber baron (Roden) do differ in experience from military (Shakor) do differ in experience from someone grown up in the middle of court intrigue (the Empress).

[Andreus Ixiris]

Vladimir Putin is a pathetic phoney who organises photoshoots to make himself look macho while running his country into the ground with his corruption, nepotism and ineptitude.

So yes, actually, he's a perfect choice for a Federation president.

[Casiella]

I'm telling you, The Mittani.

[Shintoko Akahoshi]

Vladimir Putin is a pathetic phoney who organises photoshoots to make himself look macho while running his country into the ground with his corruption, nepotism and ineptitude.

Yeah, but that's the thing. He's not, and he isn't. If you look at the Russian economy, it's grown steadily (the 2009 economic crisis notwithstanding) since he took office.

Russia's economy has also grown faster than the economy of the rest of the world (the PPP GDP is now #6 in the world, up from #9 a couple of years ago, the nominal GDP is ranked #10 by the IMF, up from #12 a couple of years ago). Public debt has fallen since he took office, while industry has grown (again, ignoring 2009). College graduates outnumber the number of graduates from the UK, France and Germany combined.

It's easy to say "Oh, Putin's a joke, Russia's a joke, he's running Russia into the ground", and use that as a way of discounting Putin's Chekist-heavy government. The reality is, however, not simple like that.

[Lyn Farel]

It is easy to have more college graduates when you have a population basis 2 or 3 times bigger, but yeah, still quite impressive.

[Z.Sinraali]

Lyn beat me to it, but yeah, population matters when you want to know how well off a country is. They're only 51st in PPP-adjusted GDP per capita. As does inequality.

The other question is, how much of Russia's growth has to do with Putin's policies and how much it's an accident of natural resource prices and the relative ease of growth in underdeveloped countries.

[Saede Riordan]

Roden is kind of interesting. He kind of plays with multiple hands at once - on one side, he is the President, and uses the federal bureaucracy. Then, he likely has Roden Shipyards vessels to do his bidding, even if he's officially retired from that business. And then, finally, he's a capsuleer with capsuleer resources available. And possibly conditioned to the way capsuleers deal with matters (a healthy dose of paranoia and Machiavellism), something that isn't very common in the very highest tiers of "civilian" society.

I think you may have accidentally just described a certain former vice president in the US

[Shintoko Akahoshi]

Before I dig in, I wanna open by saying I'm not Russian, nor am I particularly a fan of Russia and/or Putin. The crazy life-consuming year long geopolitical game I mentioned before resulted in a new Shin who has been literally basted in knowledge about modern Russia.

It is easy to have more college graduates when you have a population basis 2 or 3 times bigger, but yeah, still quite impressive.

I'd mentioned that Russia's got more graduates than France, the UK and Germany combined. Those three nations have a combined population of almost 210 million, while Russia has a population of about 143 million.

Lyn beat me to it, but yeah, population matters when you want to know how well off a country is. They're only 51st in PPP-adjusted GDP per capita. As does inequality.

This is very true. Russia is pretty rife with inequality. At the same time, this inequality is gradually decreasing. Per-capita income has grown since 1998, while unemployment and poverty is down. The Russian middle class has grown from about 8 million in 1998 to 55 million in 2006.

The other question is, how much of Russia's growth has to do with Putin's policies and how much it's an accident of natural resource prices and the relative ease of growth in underdeveloped countries.

That, in my opinion, is the single most important question with regard to Russian economic development. This is something we're going to see over the next decade: can Medvedev (and his successors) manage to make a shift from a State-owned megacorporate system based largely on natural resources to an industrial/information based economy with a focus (as Medvedev has claimed) on small and medium sized independent businesses.

[Jekaterine]

http://www.amazon.com/Putins-Russia-Life-Failing-Democracy/dp/0805082506/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1302252519&sr=1-1

Enjoy the read.

[Shintoko Akahoshi]

Oh, I'm a huge fan of Politkovskaya, I loved her Chechnya reporting! I didn't know she wrote a book, I'll have to pick it up!

Blowing up Russia and The Age of Assassins are other really good books about Putin's rise. Very creepy stuff!

[Cmdr Baxter]

The other question is, how much of Russia's growth has to do with Putin's policies and how much it's an accident of natural resource prices and the relative ease of growth in underdeveloped countries.

That, in my opinion, is the single most important question with regard to Russian economic development. This is something we're going to see over the next decade: can Medvedev (and his successors) manage to make a shift from a State-owned megacorporate system based largely on natural resources to an industrial/information based economy with a focus (as Medvedev has claimed) on small and medium sized independent businesses.

Personal opinion here: a shift from the megacorporate system to an industrial/information based economy - if conducted - will be structured to avoid infringing on State interests and will likely unfold over a long period of time. Medvedev has to be careful about infringing on the "entrenched interests" within the Kremlin (i.e. Gazprom), who have certainly benefited from Russia's reversion to a State-owned megacorporate system.

He'll also be careful to avoid any restructuring that might threaten the cash flow: Putin will more than likely have a hand in "checking" and "moderating" the extent of the reforms (in a strictly behind-the-scenes role of course). Russia's oil wealth from the last decade has enabled the State to crack down on the regional governors, commence badly-needed reforms and systematic upgrades of their armed forces (who look set to blow past Europe's for quality, training, and professionalism within a decade or so - with a few exceptions), and in general distribute the wealth in ways that benefit the country.

This is a very far cry from the Russia of the 1990s, and moreover the "man on the street" appears to realize it. Rocking the boat with economic reforms would not be in Medvedev's best interests, which is why he'll move cautiously and slowly.