Russia

Russia ranks regularly among the most dangerous countries for journalists.

Conflicts of interest are ignored in the KGB state. Up until mid-2011 when President Medvedev outlawed the practice, ministers and regulators could manage, sit on boards of, or be paid by the very companies they controlled. Although some freedom of the print media remains, state or Kremlin-friendly oligarchs own and control television. The TV nightly news features a resolute Putin (or Medvedev) attending patriotic events, congratulating award winners, and seeming to look after the health, safety and welfare of ordinary Russians.

The KGB state has created a thug economy. Its directors use businesses as personal wealth-generating machines; they quash potential competitors and take over legitimate businesses once they become big enough to attract their interest. The directors of the KGB economy have accumulated incredible wealth. Putin himself is said to be the richest of the bunch, with a fortune likely in excess of $30 billion.5 There are more Russian than American billionaires on the Forbes lists, although private wealth in Russia is a tiny fraction of that in the United States.

Three reasons why Russian economy will stagnate:


(1)insecure property rights retard entrepreneurship, investment, and risk taking.


(2)bank loans are allocated to cronies(亲友，有裙带关系的人) and not to their highest-valued uses.


(3)foreign investment is insecure even if approved at the highest levels.