Leading Economist Flees Russia

Sergey Guriev (RIA Novosti / Grigoriy Sisoev)

Russia Forces Out One of Its Best Minds -- Foreign Policy

Putin's crackdown reaches into the establishment. Is anyone safe?

The news that Sergei Guriev has been forced to leave Russia under legal pressure is truly shocking because he is not a member of the opposition but an eminent representative of the liberal wing of the establishment. If Guriev is compelled to leave the country, any Russian citizen can face that fate.

Guriev, 41, is a truly outstanding individual. He was trained as an economist at MIT and Princeton and has an impressive record of academic publications in the foremost international journals, with particular interest in the role of oligarchs and the economics of happiness. At the tender age of 32, he became the president of the New Economic School (NES), a distinguished graduate program in Moscow, which he has developed into the best economics education not only in Russia, but on the European continent.

Read more ....

More News On Sergei Guriev Decision To Leave Russia

Exiled Russian economist: I chose freedom over fear -- Reuters
Russian economist critical of Putin escaped ‘bogus’ legal pressure in new Khodorkovsky case -- Washington Post
Russian economist critical of Putin flees pressure -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Russian economist critical of Putin escaped "bogus" legal pressure in new Khodorkovsky case -- FOX News/AP
Russia's leading economist explains he fled the country after being investigated -- RT
Leading Economist Gives Up On Putin's Russia -- Paul Roderick Gregory, Forbes

My Comment: There has been an unwritten rule in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union. You can make money and enjoy it .... but you must not get involved in politics. If you do get involved in politics .... expect Putin and his cohorts to go after you. Moscow's targeting of Sergei Guriev is particularly disturbing because he is being attacked for his ideals and his philosophy .... not his politics. And if he is attacked .... that tells everyone .... including this blogger whose nationality is Russian .... that no one is safe.

Will Russia Survive After Putin?

Russian President Vladimir Putin (RIA Novosti/Aleksey Nikolskyi)

Nobody Knows if Russia Can Survive After Putin -- Vladimir Frolov

There is one question many wanted to ask during President Vladimir Putin's latest call-in show but were too afraid: Is there a future for Russia after Putin?

This question is hanging awkwardly in the air as Putin consolidates his power after a brief interregnum of Dmitry Medvedev's presidency, which many mistook for an orderly transition to a post-Putin era.

For all its flaws, the Medvedev-Putin tandem was a political innovation to create a more pluralistic governing structure with power institutionally diffused.

Read more ....

My Comment: My nationality is Russian .... and I am not a fan of Putin. But even I must recognize that a good majority in Russia strongly support him. Case in point .... my aunt. Before Putin her pension was intermediate, crime was rampant in her neighborhood, and her savings were obliterated in the financial chaos of the 1990s .... she survived through the help of family (including yours truly). Under Putin .... her pension is stable, she lives in a new apartment, and crime has all but disappeared. It does not take a rocket scientist on knowing who she wants for President .... and this is the political genius of Putin. He has used his political capital to help the millions of Russians who are like my aunt .... and trust me on this one .... they reward him handsomely at the ballot box.

Russia (of course) will survive after Putin. But the next leader .... if he is politically savvy .... will assure his position if he keeps the social programs that Putin has established untouched.