Enlightening piece by Harald Malmgren who advised Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford. And, of course, he’s warning us about Putin. How CLEVER he is.
Here’s the heart of the piece as I read it.
Referring to Putin, Malmgren writes:
“We spoke on several occasions between meetings, and he arranged to sit next to me at a dinner, accompanied by his interpreter. At that dinner, he asked me: ‘What is the single most important obstacle between your Western businessmen and my fellow Russians in starting up business connections?
“Off the top of my head, I responded: ‘The absence of legally defined property rights — without those there is no basis for resolving disputes.
“’Ah yes,” he said, “‘in your system a dispute between businesses is resolved by attorneys paid by the hour representing each side, sometimes taking the dispute to the courts which normally takes months and accumulation of hourly attorney fees.
“’In Russia,” he continued, “’disputes are usually resolved by common sense. If a dispute is about very significant money or property, then the two sides would typically send representatives to a dinner. Everyone attending arriving would be armed. Facing the possibility of a bloody, fatal outcome both sides always find a mutually agreeable solution. Fear provides the catalyst for common sense.’”
COULD THE MAN BE ANY CLEARER?
Here’s the entire piece:
Tudor Place 