... у меня исчезли последние детские иллюзии, связанные с тем, что кто-то там, наверху, о нас заботится и нас защищает (нет, я не о Боге, я говорю о руководстве страны и о Вас в том числе). Теперь я стала взрослым человеком и рассчитываю только на себя.

FR : ... j'ai perdu mes dernières illusions d'enfant quant à la présence quelque part, là-haut, de quelqu'un qui se soucie de nous et qui nous protège (je ne parle pas de Dieu mais des dirigeants du pays, dont vous). Maintenant, je suis devenue adulte, et je ne compte plus que sur moi-même. (Une blogueuse apostrophe Sergueï Choïgou, l’indéboulonnable ministre des Situations d’urgence, et rend hommage aux innombrables volontaires qui ont affronté le feu quasiment à mains nues - traduction Courrier International)

EN : I lost my last child's illusions regarding the caring and protective presence of someone somewhere up there (no I'm not talking about God, but the leaders of the Country, including you). Now I am grown up, and understand that I can only rely on myself. (approximately translated by me)

Toward new russian civil society awakening ?

At the heart of the problem is an unholy alliance between Russian law enforcement and the criminal world—a combination that over the last decade has created “an alloy of almost unbreakable force,” says lawyer Vladimir Pastukhov. Instead of enforcing the law, a large chunk of Russia’s police, secret police, and government bureaucrats spend their energies on looking out for vulnerable businesses that can be targeted for a corporate raid, Russian style. Unlike the Wall Street version, a Russian hostile takeover almost invariably involves a violent raid by armed and masked police using a warrant issued on flimsy charges, followed by the confiscation of company documents, computers, and archives with a view to stealing the business and intimidating its lawful owners. The pattern was established in 2003 when the Kremlin dismembered Russia’s biggest oil company, Yukos, and jailed its head, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and a slew of executives and lawyers based on dubious evidence. “Russian bureaucrats figured, if Putin can do it, so can we,” says a lawyer connected to Yukos who is contractually forbidden from speaking to the press.

Omidyar’s $30 million investment is a step in between. These will be investments, loans and sometimes grants for entrepreneurs looking to build high-growth, high-impact ventures that can have an out-sized affect on the poverty stricken region where some 10 million people live on $2 or $3 a day.

[...]

The reality is the world’s economic growth is no longer happening in the U.S.. It’s happening in India, China, Africa, Russia, Indonesia, Brazil and a host of other smaller countries. There is innovation and entrepreneurship already there. Billion dollar companies will be formed. The question is, does America and the Valley want to play a role in that?