In the western world, you can go out, take a boat trip to the Caribbean and so forth, and buy good things with your own money. But the Russian people with rubles cannot do that.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
And the Russians certainly don't have it. If a woman shows up in a fur coat, I just assume she's a crook. And that's me, the nice American. The assumption that you can't make money honestly is a killer.
There are a lot of people who are trying hard to sell themselves as Russian vodkas.
I don't like the mentality that comes with rich Russian men. Because they have money, they think they can buy a woman - and they do.
We live in an era where the global capital markets are the super power in the world, and when they move against you as they've moved against Russia, as we've all seen in the ruble, there's nothing that can stop that.
If you can't make 40% on your money in Russia, you're a fool.
It was always a challenge for me to prove that a Russian financial investor can be as successful in the West as back at home in Russia.
Russia does not have a modern economy: it's a petro-power. The only thing it sells that the world wants to buy is oil and natural gas. When was the last time anyone bought a Russian computer? A Russian car? A Russian cell phone? Russia is so dependent on high energy prices that if oil falls below $100 a barrel, the Kremlin can't meet payroll.
Russia is an amazing country to be an entrepreneur.
The government in Russia does not tell me what to do with my assets.
The way the business things work in Russia is you have to meet people, you have to go through a certain amount of etiquette and business things are done just simply by a shake of the hand and whether they like you or not.