Bret Stephens has a new one in the Wall Street Journal, teeing off on Vladimir Putin for his surprisingly public betrayal of Oleg Deripaska, scapegoating him as a “cockroach” whose inordinate greed costs the jobs of so many Russian workers.

Welcome to the third stage of Putinism. In Stage One, Mr. Putin
played the role of the determined technocratic modernizer who wanted to
do nothing more than impose the rule of law on a young democracy
spinning into anarchy. This stage ended in October 2003, with the
arrest and subsequent conviction and imprisonment of oligarch Mikhail
Khodorkovsky on dubious charges of tax evasion and fraud.

In Stage Two, Mr. Putin dispensed with the technocratic mien and,
Bonaparte-like, effectively crowned himself czar, surrounded by a new
breed of loyal oligarchs and ex-KGB cronies. They generously help
themselves to other people’s investments, foreign energy companies
especially. This stage lasted as long as the rise in energy prices,
culminating with last year’s invasion of Georgia.

Now we’re at Stage Three, in which Mr. Putin morphs into Hugo
Chávez, as high-handed as before but with a populist twist. This is the
stage in which guys like Mr. Deripaska allow themselves to be publicly
humiliated by Mr. Putin, thinking they’re taking one for the team when,
in fact, they’re taking it in the neck.

Last 5 posts by Robert Amsterdam

• Grigory Pasko: Yuri Luzhkov's Water Grab - November 23rd, 2009
• Who Helps Russia's Corrupt Get their Money Out? - November 23rd, 2009
• Sergei Magnitsky's Final Petition - November 23rd, 2009
• Energy Blast - Nov 23, 2009 - November 23rd, 2009
• Today in Russian Business - Nov 23, 2009 - November 23rd, 2009