Silent Lonesome Man

The moment Roman Abramovich, a rising Russian billionaire, took over the English club Chelsea F.C. in 2003, the small club suddenly emerged to become a superpower in English football and later Europe. And the Russian owner remains loved by the fans of the London Blue. But few people truly realise that Abramovich is a very close ally of the autocratic leader of Russia, Vladimir Putin. When I'm saying "few people", I mean, they have no clear insight about how deep Abramovich and Putin connected. In fact, despite Putin may not always have great relations with various oligarchs, Abramovich, among a handful of henchmen, are never touched by Putin, if not saying the Russian dictator has tolerated Abramovich as a reward. Putin never questions Abramovich, and Abramovich transfers money back to Russia freely. Abramovich's model is being copied by other Russian billionaires, and the number is increasing. Russian government has been successfully diversifying its assets from oil ...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Back in 2003, Turkey welcomed a new Prime Minister, the former mayor of Istanbul. His name was Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Just 49 years old at the time, he belonged to his newfound AKP (Justice and Development  Party, Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi). He governed a relatively secular, modern, industrialised Turkey, and by the end of 2000s, Turkey appeared to be on the right track, as usual. And Erdogan didn't have any intentions to stay long in power since there was "nothing to do". Then, the Arab Spring broke out. It changed the political landscape across the Middle East. In response, Erdogan started to unveil his inner self, slowly weakening opposition groups and placing figures loyal to the party and his family members in charge of Turkey. But this didn't sit well with most of Turkish population, who were enraged by Erdogan's political reforms that trying to undermine the secular and already modern Turkey. Erdogan responded by forc...