This thread is interesting and I'm far from entrenched in any of the position implied above. But... I don't think we can make a lot of progress without a Guinn

This thread is interesting and I'm far from entrenched in any of the position implied above. But... I don't think we can make a lot of progress without a Guinness and some banter at this point. That said, I would call the post Soviet oligarchy and it's intrigues a game where corporate interests (formerly "industry") finance and government are deeply interlinked. Those power struggles are internal to that (very young) form of "government" which you (and most people including me) call an oligarchy. The oligarchs control different pieces of all three, including Putin the senior oligarch.