A Russian Trump? What’s that?

A joke by one of the Russian crusaders against bogus doctorates:

Andrei Zayakin, another Dissernet co-founder, summed it up this way: “A Russian Donald Trump would certainly have a dissertation — maybe two or three.”

Not a particularly good joke – what’s a Russian Donald Trump? Something of a spherical cow, I’m afraid, in a vacuum.

There is at least one Russian politician with a potentially huge popular – and/or populist – appeal: Alexei Navalny. But he’s hardly rich and has no PhD.

There are property tycoons, of course: here’s a list of top 20 Moscow real estate tycoons sorted by rent income for 2015, as compiled by Forbes Russia. It actually lists groups of individuals or companies controlling major projects. It includes non-resident individuals  — Ingvar Kamprad of IKEA is in the second place — and corporations, such as Goldman Sachs. Anyway, none of the humans in Forbes’ gallery looks like he (they are all men) might be able to win any election above a village council. If Anton Bilton were Russian, perhaps, I’d give him a chance.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *