Russian corruption less organized than American

by YankeeJim | October 26, 2010 at 12:24 pm

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I could pile onto criticizing Russians for corruption but I abstain because I realize that we Americans just do a better job of institutionalizing ours.

The Supreme Court says corporations should be treated like people and therefore can make big donations to politicians and that is OK. Most of us know that this practice undermines individual voters and that it is organized corruption. Congress won’t do anything about it because they are beneficiaries.

Halliburton and KBR bought the executive branch stole billions from US Taxpayers while electrocuting soldiers with faulty work. What an insult, but they got away with it.

The military industrial complex has stampeded American business to such an extent that the only thing we export that provides positive trade is weapons systems.

Congressmen employ earmarks to set aside business for their friends from which they find ways to get a “legal” cut.

In reality, it is all corruption. So, I will resist poking a finger in the eye of Russians, though will gouge Karzai and Afghanistan until American contractors pull out due to their no longer getting their share of the pie.

“Russia most corrupt among global powers, study says; U.S. ranking also worsens

By Will Englund

Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, October 26, 2010; 10:03 AM

MOSCOW - Corruption in Russia has grown even more blatant over the past year, according to a report issued Tuesday by Transparency International, and the country has fallen from 146th place to 154th on the organization's Corruption Perceptions Index.

Russia tied with Tajikistan, Papua New Guinea and several African countries, and was ranked most corrupt among the G-20 nations.

For the first time since Transparency International began issuing its annual list 15 years ago, the United States dropped out of the top 20 least-corrupt nations, because of financial scandals it has endured. The United States fell from 19th place to 22nd, behind Chile.

Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore topped the list as least corrupt, and Somalia was at the bottom, just below Afghanistan and Burma.

The rankings come as Moscow is moving closer tojoining the World Trade Organization, and as President Dmitry Medvedev hopes to foster a new high-tech industry that would make Russia a digital leader.

"How can a country claiming to be a world leader, claiming to be a major energy power, be in such a position?" asked Yelena Panfilova, director of the Moscow office of Transparency International. "It's a situation of national shame."

There is, she said, a "catastrophic gap" between civil society and "state sabotage." Corruption is everywhere - in hospitals and in schools, in utilities and in the corps of traffic police - but Panfilova said Russia is falling ever more deeply down the international list because of a sense of immunity in the higher levels of the government.

There is no shortage of laws, instructions, orders or publications against corruption, "but they don't work," she said. "Where are the results?"”