Now Let's Do the American Oligarchs

About that "violent regime" business: It's possible to condemn the violence perpetrated by Russia's government while at the same time recognizing and condemning of our own. Our direct attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan, among other countries, have been matched by the proxy violence we have funded in nations like Palestine and Syria. Our sanctions have taken countless lives around the world, a form of bloodshed we pretend isn't warfare.

America's oligarchs, like their Russian counterparts, have bilked billions—no, make that trillions—from their own regime. Some of their bilking comes directly from its violence, in the form of "defense" contracts to entities like Halliburton, Lockheed Martin, and the Carlyle Group.

A 2014 Princeton political science study showed that government actions nearly always conform to the wishes of wealthy and powerful US elites. "Our central finding was this: Economic elites and interest groups can shape U.S. government policy — but Americans who are less well off have essentially no influence over what their government does," wrote co-authors Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page.