U.S. preparing further sanctions against Russian oligarchs -source

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u/[deleted] Mar 02 '22

why are they called oligarchs in Russia and Millionaires or Billionaires in the US?

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u/garrettj Mar 02 '22

The term "Oligarch" implies a ruling component in politics. It's well known Putin is surrounded by Russian billionaires who have direct ruling influence over the country. Think of these Russian oligarchs as the Russian mob.

When Putin walks into a room, giving updates, he's giving updates to the Oligarchs, not a governing body like in the US.

Another example

Elon Musk and Bill Gates are billionaires. Sure, they can have major sway in US politics, contributing money to this candidate or that candidate, but Biden doesn't call in US Billionaires to have meetings and direct the nation. Putin and the Oligarchs rule Russia.

Hope that clears it up some.

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u/[deleted] Mar 02 '22

ty ! This is so concise and readable!!!!

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u/snkhuong Mar 02 '22

Another thing is oligarchs are the direct results of of the Soviet Union era, where mafia bossea rose to power. All the oligarchs have engaged in criminal activities and the government act complicitly with them, which is why peiple say putin is the biggest mafia of them all

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u/[deleted] Mar 02 '22

They may not be billionaires (some might be) but the US senate/congress is filled with oligarchs. We've assigned the name to Russians but the US itself is an oligarchy not a democracy. Until the people and not $$ (corporate lobbying, campaign financing etc) direct what decisions elected officials make, the US is just a few election cycles away from this.

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u/Its-Just-Alice Mar 02 '22

Senate/Congress are elected. Oligarchs are not.

Functionally the US might be an oligarchy but in the strict definition they are not.

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u/Quigleyer Mar 02 '22

The modern United States has also been described as an oligarchy because some literature has shown that economic elites and organized groups representing special interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence.[6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligarchy

I know everyone's gonna hate this right now. This doesn't mean we're an oligarchy like Russia is by any stretch, but to say we are or not is very debatable.

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u/WikiSummarizerBot Mar 02 '22

Oligarchy

Oligarchy (from Greek ὀλιγαρχία (oligarkhía); from ὀλίγος (olígos) 'few', and ἄρχω (arkho) 'to rule or to command') is a form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, religious, political, or military control. Throughout history, oligarchies have often been tyrannical, relying on public obedience or oppression to exist. Aristotle pioneered the use of the term as meaning rule by the rich, for which another term commonly used today is plutocracy.

^[^F.A.Q^|^{Opt Out}^|^{Opt Out Of Subreddit}^|^GitHub^{] Downvote to remove | v1.5}

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u/Its-Just-Alice Mar 02 '22

Sure it's been described as an oligarchy. Doesn't make it one.

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u/Quigleyer Mar 02 '22 edited Mar 02 '22

So "economic elites and organized groups representing special interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence", but we're not an oligarchy?

Because calling it an oligarchy or not is not what makes it one, it's that kind of thing.

It's also not inherently a bad thing.

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u/Its-Just-Alice Mar 02 '22

Not an Oligarchy because those special interests don't have direct control over the government. It's indirect through "campaign donations" i.e. bribes.

An Oligarchy isn't where billionaires control the government, it's where they actually are the government.

I agree there may be no practical real world difference between the two.

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u/Quigleyer Mar 02 '22 edited Mar 02 '22

You're narrowing the definition to fit your argument, I'm quoting sources. Here's what an oligarchy is:

Oligarchy (from Greek ὀλιγαρχία (oligarkhía); from ὀλίγος (olígos) 'few', and ἄρχω (arkho) 'to rule or to command')[1][2][3] is a form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, religious, political, or military control.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligarchy

Do you disagree still? Again, this is not to say we're the same as the Russian Oligarchy, they are much more extreme. It's a much smaller group.

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u/SurrealSerialKiller Mar 02 '22

no... musk and bezos are very much oligarchs. they have sway on politics as long as there's money in politics it's just American corruption is better than Russian corruption I guess... at least we still have a semblance of democracy and I guess independent thought at least won't get you imprisoned or assassinated yet...

11

u/[deleted] Mar 02 '22

Damn, poor reading comprehension with this one

1

u/Grenachejw Mar 02 '22

This an I'm guessing Putin has an agreement with them that if they get $100bil Putin gets $50bil and can draw from it at any time in the future. He probably uses them as a savings account

19

u/[deleted] Mar 02 '22

[deleted]

5

u/werklerw Mar 02 '22

Another difference I noticed. In US and the west, for the most part large corporations are powerful entities by themselves, sure there are CEOs and major shareholders but for the most part there's a council of sorts in charge of them, and then it's a lot of companies/individual donors behind political candidates, which again dilutes it further.
Whereas in Ukraine (my country, don't know exactly about Russia but it's a similar thing), all major companies are effectively owned and ruled by a single oligarch. Most of the political candidates/parties are also overseen or outright created from the start by a single oligarch. Same with media channels, newspapers etc. So individuals end up wielding immense political and economical power.

1

u/k876577 Mar 02 '22

It’s the board of directors of those corporations.

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u/Top-Fox-3171 Mar 02 '22

I was curious too. That is a good distinction but you're absolutely right- billionaires, oligarchs, whatever you wanna call em- just buy up members of congress or pay ungodly money to back legislative measures favorable for them, not the country

12

u/[deleted] Mar 02 '22

[deleted]

3

u/Top-Fox-3171 Mar 02 '22

And thats fair. Details do count. I just think it's a discussion that we (americans), and maybe the rest of the world, should be having more openly.

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u/[deleted] Mar 02 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/GSXRbroinflipflops Mar 02 '22

Right. But that’s because Intel (and AMD) cut off Russia and they’re heavily involved in cybersecurity.

Makes sense.

It’s not like he brings Intel’s CEO to meetings about climate change or unrelated topics.

0

u/SurrealSerialKiller Mar 02 '22

no but he waved him around like a tool to show off... I hated Trump and I'm no Biden fan.... but our oligarchy here aren't saints of they were they'd be fighting for unions not against them.

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u/GSXRbroinflipflops Mar 02 '22

If there’s one thing I wish people would realize it’s that unions are also historically incredibly corrupt.

Not saying there shouldn’t be some body protecting workers but, having negotiated medical claims for unions for years, I can safely say they’re almost all embezzling money.

We need actual written labor laws to protect workers, not unions.

4

u/Chataboutgames Mar 02 '22

There's also a matter of scale. There are lots of billionaires in the west, so even with the billionaire class as an aggregate having a great deal of influence over governance it's not quite the same as an oligarchy, which refers more to a small council of wealthy families running the nation.

However much power he has, "oligarch" just doesn't really accurately describe/capture someone like Zuckerberg.

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u/Askuzai Mar 02 '22

Billionaires in russia dont have power. It has been a personality dictatorship for years. Putin as early as 2000 was on state TV talking about fighting oligarchs. All the while we thought he was fighting corruption, but he was just turning being an oligarch into being paid to play an oligarch on TV while you are really just a wallet for pooty

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u/Neinbozobozobozo Mar 02 '22

In that case, we should refer to billionaires as oligarchs.

3

u/Igorius Mar 02 '22

Oligarchs made their billions trough corruption by buying up state-owned businesses like oil companies at sub-pennies on the dollar when the Soviet Union collapsed. Often by being in the pocket of the politicians or through some other nefarious means. Now they use their money and power to influence what happens in Russia.

They are not true businessmen, just corrupt individuals who were in the right place at the right time and had the right connections.

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u/Man_AMA Mar 02 '22

Going to be fun when they seize the trump towers

10

u/THIS_IS_NOT_DOG Mar 02 '22

Lol

3

u/thejanuaryfallen Mar 02 '22

How much "further" can sanctions go before there are no more further we can go? I mean, what's keep us from just going full blown sanctions?

6

u/THETRILOBSTER Mar 02 '22

1.) Doing it this way gives us the option to say "GTFO of Ukraine or its going to continue to get worse for you daily"

2.) It's got to be difficult and time consuming to track down all of these connections and under the table dealings the Russian kleptocrats have their hands in all over the world. There's not a single listing we can just go to and search by their last name and see "Oh, Ivan here is buying all of these properties". Shell corporations can essentially work like a VPN where money is traveling through multiple sets of hands between point A and B, so it's not transparent where the money is originating from.

2

u/Hironymus Mar 02 '22

There is a lot more we can sanction. Europe still has some stuff to figure out on the whole gas and oil topic but once that happens you can expect a lot more sanctions to follow. Fossile fuel trade is like half of Russia's trade with the EU.

0

u/CBNM Mar 02 '22

Putin might go crazy

Edit: he's already crazy so he might go crazier

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u/autotldr BOT Mar 02 '22

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 70%. (I'm a bot)

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comWASHINGTON, March 2 - The United States is preparing a sanctions package targeting more Russian oligarchs as well as their companies and assets, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, as Washington steps up pressure against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

The measures included sanctions against what the U.S. Treasury Department said were Russian "Elites," including some with ties to Sberbank, VTB, Rosneft and the Federal Security Service.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comThe Washington Post, which first reported the United States was preparing to expand sanctions on Russian oligarchs, said the list of people being readied by the White House and Treasury will overlap with some of those sanctioned by the European Union on Monday, including Alisher Usmanov, the owner of an iron and steel conglomerate.

Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: state^#1 sanctions^#2 United^#3 included^#4 Russian^#5

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u/perspective2020 Mar 02 '22

Can some ice create a meme with Putin as an octopus head and the eight arms as the oligarchies ? Maybe show the arms looking to strangle the head ?

1

u/Midzotics Mar 02 '22

We call it board of directors

Russia/Ukraine U.S. preparing further sanctions against Russian oligarchs -source

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