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Re:Putin Passes Law Requiring $3.8B Security Payments From V... by exelius on Tuesday May 06, 2014 @11:24AM (#7705018)
Absolutely -- Russia is an oligarchy where the ruling class are the only ones with a chance at being successful. If anyone else is successful, they use the law as a weapon to either seize their business on the basis of trumped up charges (Yukos?) or to heavily regulate the market such that their ventures are the only ones that can succeed.

Geopolitically, Russia is trying to establish an "alternative" to the US/EU-centric global economy that's basically a free-market version of the Soviet Union. That way they can use their military and intelligence services to pressure their neighbors (Ukraine and others) into participating in this alternate economy where the money flows through Russia instead of the US and EU.

Combine the two and you can see their ambitions: Putin and his allies just want to get rich. And if you live in Russia, they can throw you in jail for pretty much no reason, so I wouldn't mess with them.

Re:Putin Passes Law Requiring $3.8B Security Payments From V... by acqq on Tuesday May 06, 2014 @11:52AM (#7705196)
You're completely missing the point here. Have you read the article?

"The law on a national payment system, which seeks to guarantee uninterrupted service of payments in Russia by foreign payment systems and prevent them from cutting services to Russian clients, as Visa and MasterCard did in response to U.S. sanctions in March."

Visa and MasterCard cut their local intra-Russian services "because of the U.S: sanctions"(!) Note that both these named Visa and MasterCard aren't "American Visa and MasterCard." The ones operating in Russia had to be registered as Russian companies to provide the services at all. So it's Russian companies (they are daughter companies, but legally independent except for brand, initial investments, connecting to the international infrastructure etc) cutting their own services to Russians because of the external political influences.

It's totally reasonable to adjust the laws to make it harder for such Russian companies to do such things in Russia.

Re:Putin Passes Law Requiring $3.8B Security Payments From V... by argyle on Tuesday May 06, 2014 @11:56AM (#7705233)
> Combine the two and you can see their ambitions: Putin and his allies just want to get rich.

When I combine the two I see a Putin who wants freedom from the dependance on a globalized economy that is largely run by western powers. I doubt Putins end goal has anything to do with "just" getting rich.

Re:Putin Passes Law Requiring $3.8B Security Payments From V... by soAsian on Tuesday May 06, 2014 @11:55AM (#7705230)
What you said ain't got nothing to do with what the article is about. Read the fucking article first!