Reason Writers Around Town: Cathy Young on Corruption in Russia

At The Daily, Contributing Editor Cathy Young reports that the oil company BP has become the latest victim of Russia's corrupt practices:

A day after the signing of an Arctic exploration deal between Exxon Mobil and Rosneft, the state-controlled Russian oil company, the wrath of Russian law came down on BP — whose rival deal with Rosneft was scuttled a few months ago. On Wednesday, BP's Moscow offices were invaded by bailiffs, police and machine gun-toting special forces soldiers. The court-sanctioned raid was related to a lawsuit by Russian shareholders, and the plaintiffs' attorneys claim the timing was pure coincidence. Still, for many observers, this fiasco is a reminder that 20 years after the fall of communism, Russia remains an unpredictable and often hostile environment for business.

Read all about it here.

Comments

[yonemoto]

well, we know who's not getting invited to alyona's show.

[Colin]

+1

[BakedPenguin]

+2

[Fist of Etiquette]

Russia seems like the place where government might seize a small businessman's bar to make way for a crony's stadium project. Thank God that can't happen here in America.

[?]

Sarcasm! Who says punning is the lowest form of humor?

[Lost_In_Translation]

Dealing with the Russians is like being a trophy wife to a random wife beater. Every now and then, the companies have to take some drunken raging, but console themselves with their personal masseuse.

[Colin]

How about investigating corruption in your own country?

Think it doesn't exist?

[BakedPenguin]

What a novel idea, ??????. Perhaps if you look in the archives of this magazine, you might find that they've done that once or twice.

[heller]

Tu quoque!

Brilliant response, dumbass.

[BakedPenguin]

Wait, are you the regular "Colin"?

[A fan]

Colon - full of shit, as usual.

[affenkopf]

Still, for many observers, this fiasco is a reminder that 20 years after the fall of communism, Russia remains an unpredictable and often hostile environment for business.

No wonder they're getting along with Exxon.

[Mr. Mark]

"Russia remains an unpredictable and often hostile environment for business."

Next thing you know, Moscow will introduce some sort of complicated, unreadable compendium of gibberish about healthcare regulations and then handout exemptions to it on a case-by-case favoritism basis or something...

Worse yet, they might start writing checks to businesses to "bail them out" with the tab running into the trillions!

And who knows when SOBR and the Ministry of the Interior is going to get caught running guns to Chechen terrorists?

I'm glad we've got a grip on those sorts of things here already...they say it's best to be ahead of the curve.

[A fan]

And raid a cymbalon maker for using unauthorized cat gut.