Analysis: From Oligarch To Kleptocrat By Vladimir Putin

Society argues within itself because of its belief that one opinion over the other is always right. There is no neutral stance or a considered ‘in between.’ Both sides will argue only for themselves and try their best to refute their opponent’s statement. These battles between ideas extend from menial issues such as who left the lights on in the house to whos math problem is correct. This includes bigger topics such as governmental structures. The pervasiveness of communism made dictators of the twentieth century vulnerable to its ideals, leading them into economic and agricultural ruin.

There is a common saying that many use to describe the lack of flaws in a character, “Nobody is perfect!” This is generally true until a leader steps forward,

Unfortunately, he achieved this quickly through complete censorship of all media outlets, similar to that of Mao during his reign. Ruth May provides a detailed description of his rise to power in her article “Putin: From Oligarch to Kleptocrat.” He begins as a simple officer and eventually lands himself as the heir to the Presidency despite being relatively unknown to the Russian public. Once in power he made his autocracy idea very clear after briefly mentioning how the death of the Soviet Union is considered (in his eyes) the largest “geopolitical catastrophe of the [twentieth] century” (May, 2018). From that point forward Putin began to accumulate massive companies, forming an oligarchy leading to his eventual singular reign. Despite this obvious undemocratic act those in Russia live in fear and pretend to love their terrifying President. In their country there are no other opinions, similar to China, allowed apart from his. Since no one contests his power, it was concerning to see the current President of the United States flip- flopping his opinion on old enemies. In current events it seems that these two have colluded with each other to make their “Countries Great Again!” This can be also noted as the slow crawl of communism and autocracy into American society. It will not make itself fully known until there is nothing that can be done, leading to the catastrophes having already occurred in both Russia and China. Another popular saying states “history repeats itself.” Even a modern superpower such as America can be susceptible to its power and the tantalizing thought of what utopia it could in theory bring with