Great idea, though one non-trivial barrier will be the fact that a large portion of the German (and Italian) business elite are in bed with Gazprom. Especially the energy companies, whose growth and profits now depend heavily on access to the criminalized Russian state's economic "commanding heights."

That ol' alley-catter Gerhard Schroeder in particular has been bought and paid for by Nigeria North's FSB gangsters. (Wonder how many millions are slurring into Gerhard's Swiss or Liechtenstein accounts each month via Gazprom's trading subsidary scams? Gotta make up for the end of the Merrill Lynch gravy train somehow.)

D'accord, Teplukhin2you.  

I know I'd be interested in reading a TNR piece laying out the cozy connections between the likes of Schroeder, Berlusconi, et al., and the GazProm mafia.  There's gotta be at least one intrepid reporter over there willing to give it a shot, right?

Lit - the Schroeder connection's hidden in plain view: the man is a board member. As with his post with Merrill Lynch, his fronting for an energy company whose corruption makes Enron look like a Junior Achievement project tells us that Schroeder truly has no shame. IIRC he took the Merrill post not long after he retired from his second term-- the one he gained by railing against "bloodsucker" American capitalism.

As to intrepid reporters, alas, there aren't many left. Those inside Russia have been killed by Putin and his fellow mafiyosi (cf Politkovskaya, Paul Klebnikov of Fortune). Those in the West have been killed by Google.

Even TNR no longer has any serious, first-rate coverage of Russia. In the new blogblatherer world, all ye know is domestic foodfights, Sharks v Jets, smirks 'n' sneers about OtherSide. China, Russia, Japan, Brazil, and the ROTW* be damned.

The only reason I still post here is that,hoping against hope, I believe that someone in Washington should be paying attention to the complete criminalization of the state in one of the most important nations on the planet. Obama will find out, very soon, just how important this development is for us and for the world.

* rest of the world