Interview · moment 19 of 23
Comparing Russia to Tammany Hall and Grounds for Optimism
from Russia's Super Mafia · #98
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
3 minGuest
They compare Russia's mob-state entanglement to American political machine corruption, with Galeotti offering cautious optimism that younger Russian cops and citizens are growing tired of corruption even if change won't happen under Putin.
- 52:25Tim expresses unfashionable optimism about Russia's future trajectory compared to its 1990s state.
- 52:43In the 1990s, Russian cops were so corrupt that money could make them overlook even murder.
- 52:55Younger Russian cops today still understand corruption exists but have raised their threshold for taking bribes.
- 53:19Ordinary Russians are growing tired of corruption and dashed hopes under the current system.
- 53:44After Putin, Russia will likely see self-interested kleptocrats rather than democrats—not fundamentally different from America's approach.
- 54:05In the 1990s, Russian kleptocrats felt they needed gangsters; now they increasingly see them as an embarrassment.
- 54:30Russia's improvement won't happen passively—the West must help push for change, though Russians ultimately have to do it themselves.