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Yes and Russian billionaires are “oligarchs” while American billionaires are “businessmen”. https://fair.org/home/russia-has-oligarchs-the-us-has-businessmen/

Yes and Russian billionaires are “oligarchs” while American billionaires are “businessmen”. https://fair.org/home/russia-has-oligarchs-the-us-has-businessmen/ https://fair.org/home/russia-has-oligarchs-the-us-has-busine...

trhway 6y ago
>Mr. Kolomoisky, 58, a mercurial figure in Ukraine who once funded his own militia to fend off pro-Russian insurgents the scope and type of available power is what distinguishes oligarchs from mere rich businessmen. In that particular case the Kolomoisky dukedom happened to be right next to the insurgency and he, like it were the actual feudal times, had to "raise the fyrd" so to speak to protect his dukedom and the whole kingdom by extension - his forces were among the key ones who blocked the insurgency from expanding further in the first months when the Ukrainian state and army were kind of in disarray.
- SerLava 6y ago
  That's available to Jeff Bezos, he just doesn't need it right now. I guarantee you if militants were blowing up Amazon trucks regularly, and the US government was ineffective to stop it, there would be Amazon MRAPs patrolling the streets
  - xnyan 6y ago
    Yes, and at a small scale it already happens today. I was working for a largish tech firm a few years ago when they made an agreement with the local and state government to get the right to run their own private police force on their campus. This was not security, they had (limited) rights to detain, arrest, and use deadly force in some cases, very similar to American university police if you're familiar with that.
- TaylorAlexander 6y ago
  Are you sure things are so different? https://www.nationofchange.org/2016/11/01/security-firm-running-dakota-access-pipeline-intelligence-ties-u-s-military-work-iraq-afghanistan/ https://www.nationofchange.org/2016/11/01/security-firm-runn...

trhway 6y ago

>Mr. Kolomoisky, 58, a mercurial figure in Ukraine who once funded his own militia to fend off pro-Russian insurgents the scope and type of available power is what distinguishes oligarchs from mere rich businessmen. In that particular case the Kolomoisky dukedom happened to be right next to the insurgency and he, like it were the actual feudal times, had to "raise the fyrd" so to speak to protect his dukedom and the whole kingdom by extension - his forces were among the key ones who blocked the insurgency from expanding further in the first months when the Ukrainian state and army were kind of in disarray.

SerLava 6y ago
That's available to Jeff Bezos, he just doesn't need it right now. I guarantee you if militants were blowing up Amazon trucks regularly, and the US government was ineffective to stop it, there would be Amazon MRAPs patrolling the streets
- xnyan 6y ago
  Yes, and at a small scale it already happens today. I was working for a largish tech firm a few years ago when they made an agreement with the local and state government to get the right to run their own private police force on their campus. This was not security, they had (limited) rights to detain, arrest, and use deadly force in some cases, very similar to American university police if you're familiar with that.
TaylorAlexander 6y ago
Are you sure things are so different? https://www.nationofchange.org/2016/11/01/security-firm-running-dakota-access-pipeline-intelligence-ties-u-s-military-work-iraq-afghanistan/ https://www.nationofchange.org/2016/11/01/security-firm-runn...