It's always quite funny how even some analysts do not understand the concept of a multipolar world. Mutlipolar world, many poles, you need an interface with all the poles, so you need a matching network to each for your integration into a mutipolar world, to take advantage of the opporunities - Now got it! Big West, Big East.... But more importantly Big World. Autism or Bipolar is very debilitating you know!

I read through this Q&A in disbelief. Is this guy for real? Some of his "analysis" sounds like a cynical twilight zone. "Russia's elites chose to side with Big West?" Which elites? I hope we are not talking about Russia's leadership, because it seems to me that they are acting exactly as they should - as a world's moderating, balancing force, the force sorely needed in our unabalanced world. Besides, alliances with BRICs, COO, CIS, Latin America continue developing. Also, Russia is a popular country and the US is the most unpopular. According to this "analyst": so what if US is hated, it has the $$$$ - and that's all that matters to the "Russian elites." Whoever those mysterious "elites" are - just you wait. Another 5-10 years and not only US will be the most unpopular country, but it also will be completely broke. No more $$$$, in other words. P.S. I have to say that analysis of what Russia has to offer is right on. Great survival skills and ability to prosper despite advesity, 1/3 of world's natural resources, security know how and population's talent and ingenuity. All that is true. And, yes, Russia deserves to be a very prosperous, well to do country. However, it doesn't mean that it must orient themselves exclusively to the west to achieve that. We also have to separate EU from US here, as they will eventually be going their separate ways. Strategic alliance with Germany and Italy, may be France is good. With EU - may be. But it would be a catastrophe to orient themselves strategically trowards US. Only short term, tactical alliances with US are a good idea! We need MULTIPOLAR WORLD!

Count Cash Why do I feel you do not like the bluntly honest analysis of this Russian expert. The small Russian elite- the oligarchs, seem to lack original vision of their own. The Valdai club basically recycles the talking points of the Council of Foreign Affairs. Have seen Hilary Clinton’s address on the Council of Foreign Affairs today? Look at it and then tell us that the western neo-liberal will accept a multi polar world.

Larisa On the contrary, this analyst is spot on. The current Russia’s small oligarch elite is showing signs of intellectual weakness. RT and the Voice of Russia have recently published reports which show that foreign workers in Russia are among the richest in the world. Why Russia needs so many foreign experts? Yesterday, two Russian pilots made great news when they saved the lives of 81 people onboard of TU-154 jetliner. An Russian aviation expert interviewed by RT stated that this particular aircraft was “over engineered” to withstand all sorts of rough conditions. What has happened to this Soviet culture of “over-engineering technology”? It has been cannibalized. As a result, today Russia’s tiny oligarch elite are hiring western expert educated under the western culture of “under-engineering” and “mass consumption.” The RT reporting of the Valdai forum is not inspiring. I have not yet seen any western contribution to this forum that offers a new paradigm or concept that moves global integration or inter- civilizational dialogue forward. The forum is a eurocentric space- and only few nations from Asia are included in this forum. Africa and Latin America and much of Asia are not part of this club. All these weaknesses point to Russia’s elite eagerness to be included into the prevailing but fast diminishing neo-liberal west. I do not see anything radical in stating these most obvious points out.

The RT's correspondent is right - the forum is costly. Particularly when there is no acute need to know about the West's set of rules and how Russia can play them - the play is ongoing. And far too costly to tell us that "the elite" and "political class" are just the same entity. The big question is: how fair would be a share of 'global pie'?

How can one build a "fair world" if he is not capable to build even a fair society in his own country? How can injustice USA build a "fair world" if 14% of the population controls 92% of the wealth in USA today? How can one who intentionally caused the problem at first place provide the solution? This is a very poor interview and yet another cheap "neoliberal" claptrap by an "independent" self-proclaimed "elitist" and "expert" (who is I guess well payed by the Anglo-American-Israeli money). So after grabbing of Iraqi oil in a brutal colonial fascist aggression, after grabbing Saudi oil, after grabbing Nigerian, Mexican oil and exploiting it for decades this "expert" would give Russian resources to the fat-cat "Western club" and deprive Russia, Ukraine, Belarus of development just for Russia to be in the "western club"?!? Wow, I guess that even Hitler would not propose "better" proposal! But I have a better one! How about a radical, deep change in the western societies, either peacefully or through revolutions, and getting rid off the criminal, fascist oligarchy with colonial mentality which controls the biggest western countries (including resource rich Canada and Australia) and who pushed the whole world into this crisis at first place? The western societies would then finally get accommodated to the idea that they represent only small part of the world, not only demographically (the so called "West" is less than 12% of the world population) but very soon unavoidably smaller part of the world economically as well. That will also help them to change internally and build fair societies inside their own countries. But at the end no one can stay on top forever and as soon as the western societies realize and accept that fact we can all build a fair world of cooperation, trade, joint projects in research and development, respect for the international laws, and most importantly new multi-polar world order! I think that would be much better proposal.

PR101, To deal with the Oligarchs issue and their western leaning, you have to consider how they came about and how they were contained and what is the status quo now. After SU collapse, briefly, the west envisaged a natural chaotic model that would allow them to take control of Russia, this was basically letting a process run where thugs and criminals could steal and concentrate wealth, then befriend these individuals and get them on boarrd offering opportunity to enjoy that wealth through western outlets, and more importantly llegitamise that wealth, which was the standard way a warlord system precipatates order in a system in the end. These western befriended Oligarchs were then to sieze political power following the same corporate and financial control of the US model. Hence Bingo the US controlled the Oligarchs, who controlled Russia, the shop was open for looting. However, whilst economically the SU collapsed, in terms of security apparatus it still had fight left in it to prevent Russia becoming a western poodle. So in came 'the man' who quickly applied well placed pressure points and kicks to the Oligarchs to take away the control that the Oligarchs were trying to exert over Russia. He broke the western control mechanism and put in a status quo apparatus that brokered a deal that they could still exist if they focused on financial instead of political goals from outside governments. Some accepted this wholly, others run, and others became controlled, but still harbouring and trying to maoeuver still a western dimension, but with more subtle actions. So there you have it the status quo, the russian security apparatus, crystalised into a party structure, holding Russia from being devoured by the west. It is this structure that keeps Russia for the people and keeps it stable, hence why their approval ratings are so high. But you will still find the remnants of the Western game in the controlled Oligarchs who are PART of society.

American and European bankers tried to destroy Russia several times in past . Do you think Russian oligarchs will be invited to Bilderberg and other powerful meetings ? I doubt it . How can you trust them and not expect sabotage ? I would rather see Russia hold America and Europe in check by building strong ties to China , Iran , Pakistan , Cuba and North Korea . America can't even play by their own rules so how can we honestly follow those hypocrites ?

Truthammer, You are right on the money, Russian Oligarchs are not getting anywhere near Bilderberg, they are just second tier Oligarchs, just intended for western takeover. Indeed once they serve thir purpose, their assets will be striped from them and given to the real western Oligarchs. Of course the ones who play as faithfull puppets will be left a nice income to suppress Russia, as governors, the Iraqi and Afghanisatn model. But you also need realise there is a taxonomy of Oligarchs, western owned, western facing, western tolerent, Russian homegrown, Russian nationalist...... and the whole environment is changing. What all Oligarchs in the end want, sometimes obtained over generations, is to legitamise their theft, to actually have the state protect them, to protect 'their' property. For society to accept them as a success and their resulting families legitimate posession of that wealth. In the west this process took centuries, for the Lords to get their ownership legitamised. Russians try to move fast, and they sought protection from the West,, they bought art galleries, investing in culture, all trying to put a legitimate face on their theft, it is the normal way any class system has formed in the west, through taking property by illegitimate means from the people. But the environment also changes, now remaining Oligarchs can have the life they want based from Russia, if they concentrate just on Finacial issues, or act in a positive fashion towards a Russian state. So there has been an evolution into a 'comfortable' Oligarchy brokered by a man that knew how to focus and build a future by dealing with reality on the ground. There are tensions, It is no secret that the state is porous to bribes, so there is a continual dynamic of Oligarchs buying further influence, individuals using their power to try to become Oligarchs, and the state apparatus, trying to maintain order to thwart a western takeover. So can the Oligarchs be trusted, absolutely NOT.

@ PR101 I am not sure what you are arguing about with me. Much of what you say does not apply to my post - you should read mine more carefully, before jumping to conclusions. The rest of yours - you are preaching to the choir. As to the political power you wrongly ascribe to the Russian oligharchs, they don't have that much of it. They are allowed to exist within the system, partly, to preserve stability in the country, partly, because they can be useful due to their managerial and business skills, and partly to calm down the West. Of course, not everything is black and white and there are those oligarchs who have the ear of the leadership. But so far the leadership makes balanced enough decisions and lets hope it continues for the sake of not only Russia but the rest of the world. Generally, there is nothing wrong with forums like Valdai, which expresses one of the many points of view on processes occurring today in Russia and the world. The reason I didn't like this "expert" was not because he expressed certain point of view, but because of his subservient attitude towards the West and because if his insistence that Russian "elites" decided to follow the West. That is a wrong, one-sided, and short-sided statement. As to your assertion that Soviet technology tended to over-engineer, it's absolutely correct, and that's something I'm personally very proud of. USSR had many things it did very well, and some things that it didn't do well at all. However, today we live in a differrent world. Russia had to reinvent itself through the 90s and now she is emerging out of mega-diffucult times renewed and with flying colors. We can't cry over spilled milk. Need to look into the future, without forgetting the past, the roots. May be there are Russians who don't understand that. But I don't know any. All the people I talk to understand this very well.

Now any one who wants to understand the management structure in Russia, read the article on this site Medvedev, Putin and Perestroika 2.0. This explains who owns what pilars of Russian brand value - Putin security and stability, Medvedev prosperity. Who has responsibility at any one time will depend on the status of Security and Stability KPIs. The analyst here, is one of the only ones who has done the right call. So for the future vector Medvedev has space, created by the strong checking of Putin and the ability of him to steer the puck into open ice for Medvedev to skate on. Russia could come back becuase whilst the SU was economically defeated, it never was militarily defeated. The window closed for the west, so now it has to deal with Russia or try another approach of inciting people into instability. But the irony is that the instability of the collapse of the SU created a safety mechanism, making Russians totally reject any form of instability at all. By half winning the west totally lost. So Russia will be held rigid in terms of threats to the state and it will always prevent a corporatocracy. But other than that Medvedev has open house and a pot full of cash with the only limitation that he must work with Putin to make sure anything done is thought out and doesn't rock Putin's brand responsibilities. This is normal team work in any organisation. There is no need for National chaos, which is what the west wants for Russia. To open the carcase for the feast. But there is room for individual chaos at the bottom with more order applied as any unit becomes more and more influencial. This is regulation. The west had no regulation, hence the tents and austerity, all because corporates and banking elite know no flag and know no people, they just know money and the power that comes with it. So Russia will now grow in a strong greenhouse, the seeds are the people, the gardner is Medvedev. as long as he doesn't break anything, he will have a long career.