Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian government Igor Shuvalov in Davos: "if you think about it, Russia half-owns Google, since its creator Sergey Brin came from Russia." (see Update) First, let’s appreciate this curious rhetorical device: Kenya’s leadership should remember it and use it when the occasion arises: "if you think about it, Kenya is the coolest country of all, because it put one of its own in the U.S. presidency." Second, Igor Shuvalov should remember that Sergey Brin created Google not in Russia but in the United States, because in Russia people like Igor Shuvalov would never have allowed him to create Google. As is well known, Google’s initial investment was $100,000. The website of Rospotrebnadzor (Russia’s consumer protection watchdog) costs $160,000. The electronic document management system of the Chelyabinsk Region Ministry of Industry (staff roster: 131 people) costs $835,000. The Ministry of Health is commissioning a social network for $2 million. And so on and so forth. Hundreds of such tenders. In Russia, nothing costing more than 3 million rubles (about several tens of thousands of U.S. dollars at the time) gets purchased without a kickback. What is stopping Igor Shuvalov from lobbying the Americans in Davos less and actually doing his job and putting things in order? Nothing. He has the authority. He has a big black Mercedes. He has a flashing blue light. He has security. He has "vertushki" (special government phone lines). He has the support of the ruling party. So what is stopping Shuvalov, if you think about it? P.S. A small reminder, in case anyone has forgotten: Unemployed Olga Shuvalova, Igor Shuvalov’s wife, reported income of 365 million rubles in 2008 and 642 million rubles in 2009. Update: as commenters rightly point out, Shuvalov did not say the bit about "half-Russian Google." That was said by one of the discussion moderators. You can verify it here: forumspb.com/#translation152|1296116151 Kommersant (the newspaper) — from which I took the quote — got everything mixed up, and I failed to check it. Everything else, however — from the reasons for Russia’s Google deficiency to Shuvalov’s wife’s income — is true.