At least one person is defending Putin’s actions against Yukos and its former president, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, but it was this that caught my eye (emphasis mine):
Russian oligarchs were taking control of the entire Russian economy. These people had a strangle hold on every aspect of Russia and were basically out of reach of the government. … Russia’s key industries and natural resources were being used to secure massive personal wealth for a few, and for many years the ones suffering were the people. Now I am a free market conservative, but I also understand there must be limits on how much power can be horded into unelected hands.
[…]
I have no doubt this is a sugar coated version of events that deliberately overlooks much of the crimes this man may have committed. The richest man in Russia running for President? Do we want Bill Gates for President? He controls a major chunk of our economy already – would we trust him as he oversaw a justice department that is charged with enforcing corporate monopoly laws? Where is the representative of the people?
Which reminded me of a recent post by Dilbert creator Scott Adams, where he makes the argument that Bill Gates would be a great president:
For my president I want a mixture of Mother Teresa, Carl Sagan, Warren Buffet, and Darth Vader. Bill has all of their good stuff. His foundation will save more lives than Mother Teresa ever did. He’s got the Carl Sagan intelligence and rational mind. He’s a hugely successful businessman. And I have every reason to believe he can choke people just by concentrating in their general direction. You can’t tell me that wouldn’t be useful at a summit.
He’s got a point doesn’t he?
Mar. 1, 2022 Edit: OK, so I regret this one now.