Glenn Williamson

We often hear about how Russia is nearly a western country, wants to be a western country, is making strides towards modernization in the western way. Glenn Williamson is here to tell you it’s not true. Russia is Russian, with graft, corruption, greed, sloth, sloppiness and near zero motivation. Forward progress, at an individual or corporate level, is a miracle.

He describes his apartments as leaky tents, where you just put up with the dripping and the puddles, because sewing a patch requires permits, a designer, approvals and installers. He deals with the necessity of bribes on a daily basis. Building a modern atrium-style office/retail complex for international partners is a nightmare. Russians are used to it. They don’t protest or try to circumvent the system. That alone condemns them to a dismal future.

The book is an easy reading, fast paced memoir of Williamson’s years in Moscow and St. Petersburg. He works for an American firm, speaks Russian well enough not to need a translator, and is a fairly laid back, hard to ruffle real estate executive. At least that’s how he portrays himself 15 years later. It’s a little hard to believe he took all the setbacks in his stride at the time.

The overtness of the corruption is quite stunning to a western reader. A local official rejects an application to install a boiler, until and unless Williamson gets a local to design it. This despite the fact it was legally purchased, imported and installed already. Oh, and the local designer just happens to be the official who turned down the application. Oh, and if Williamson does pay for that design, he might still not get final approval – from this same official. Just another day.

The book is less than 200 pages, so it’s a fast romp, but it’s a real education in the reasons Russia is going nowhere fast.

David Wineberg… (mehr)