"Joker"

[Victor Steinbok]

Ethnic Chechens. And the reasons are largely similar to ethnic organized
crime groups in the US--discrimination, job ceiling and high illiteracy
rates (in general, ethnic groups that have been traditionally Muslim
have had lower literacy rates than the population overall, but most have
caught up by the dissolution of the Soviet Union, but ethnic Chechens
remained a notable exception). Things have been improving over time (the
father was a lawyer before FSB beating caused brain damage, and he
proudly claims to be a family of lawyers), but not to bring up the
entire group. There has been a very overt minority discrimination among
the Russians--and, more broadly, [former] Soviets--and there is a clear
hierarchy of ethnic groups.

Ironically, some of the most powerful businessmen in Russia today are
also ethnic Chechens--in no small part for the same reasons as the
Russian resistance to allow independence. In particular, one oil
oligarch was one of the most powerful members of the Duma (and Putin
allies) prior to his crashing a Ferrari in Monaco a couple of years ago
(forget his name). He suffered some brain damage, but I actually have no
idea if it had any effect on his parliamentary functions.

I am trying to present the common stereotypes that result in cultural
segregation and, at the same time, to avoid falling into the same trap
myself. Perhaps I'm not succeeding on the latter (in part, because I
have to rely, of necessity, on Russian press reports, which already
might be biased).

     VS-)

On 4/24/2013 9:09 AM, Amy West wrote:
> On 4/24/13 12:00 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
>>    Chechens are significantly overrepresented with the
>> Russian mob).
> Really! Do you mean ethnic Russians from Chechnya or ethnic Chechens?
>
> Re: Russianifying the name, I noticed that with the surname
> "Suleimanova" in one of the articles I've read. (I'm not good enough to
> notice anything but the most obvious.)
>
> ---Amy West

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