Casino Moscow: A Tale of Greed and Adventure on Capitalism's Wildest Frontier

Matthew spins his real life adventure tale in such a spellbinding and entertaining way that it was hard for me to put this book down until the end. I especially enjoyed his colourful descriptions of key people and events during this wild transition period that transformed Russia into the one that I worked in 2003 to 2006.

I read this book cover-to-cover this past weekend and found that it captures the spirit and feelings I experienced while working and living in Russia myself in 1994-1996 as a highly paid and pampered business consultant. To this day, I still cannot accurately explain the living and working conditions as an expat in Russia/East Europe during those crazy years. I generally resort to pulling out the more than 300 hours of videotape and some 4000 pictures I took while there in order to remind myself what I went through. I do recall both cursing and thanking my circumstances on a daily basis -- cursing the long winter days, the inability to accomplish simple business tasks; thanking the opportunity I had to help transform the former "Evil Empire" into a potential commercial, financial, military and social ally of the West (Needless to say, those expats on the ground during those years had some lofty aspirations.)I have been back to Moscow (as recently as this recent August) many times since my long-term stay and continually ask myself how the changes put into play in the early/mid-1990s resulted in the current state of the country and people.For all of those who want to know what it was like during those wild and insane mid-1990s as an expat in Russia, this book is for you. There is no need for endless hours of videotape and pictures to see -- this book captures a big chunk of history in a neat and concise bundle.

This is a book that deserves its five stars. Excellently written and covers a fascinating subject -- the development of capitalism in Russia. The author who is Canadian with Polish heritage ventures to the east to become a journalist for the Wall Street Journal and to see first hand the continents progress from communism to market economy. Much to his surprise it is not exactly a sight for sore eyes but a wild-west robber baron type mentality where the ones with the money and the guns to back it up rules. The amount of money, power, and blood that is at stake are staggering and the quest for control has always its ties to Kremlin and organized crime. The book offers great insight in the complexity of both the workings of Russia and its surrounding countries (i.e former Soviet Union states) and the eagerness of international finance to earn a quick buck along the way, which might not be the best way to find stable growth and development that is so much needed.

This book is an entertaining and valuable read for anyone interested in the countries and people emerging from the collapse of the Soviet empire. The book covers far more than just Moscow but ranges into the Ukraine, Belarus, Siberia and Poland. The author has a good eye for physical and personal detail and sets scenes well. He is also able to draw the reader into an understanding of the larger implications of the events he witnessed. Brzezinski also has the advantage of growing up in French Canada as the son of Polish immigrant parents. The resulting linguistic and ethnic understanding has given him a feeling of closeness to the Slavic people of whom he writes. He is able to write in a fluid style for an American audience but at the same time he reveals a sense of irony toward the wonders of the capitalistic system that many Americans, no matter how well traveled, lack.

If you read the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times, many of the stories in this book will seem familiar to you. They should. Matthew Brzezinski was a reporter for both publications in the 1990s. In this witty revealing book, he shares with you not only the stories he covered but the experiences he had in covering them and living in Kiev and Moscow. The stories are connected by his descriptions of what happened to him, his fiancee, their friends, and the people he wrote about. The book begins with being mugged in his own apartment by a confidence team in Kiev and ends with leaving the country to avoid confiscatory taxation. Unfortunately, he ends up having a regret. A year later, one of his Journal colleagues wins a Pulitzer for her reporting of the aftermath of the Russian debt crisis. Crony Capitalism is the name that has been applied to the Russian tendency for government officials to share the benefits of special favors with their buddies, and probably get a rake-off in the process. In substance, it is little different than the corruption in many third-world countries. The key difference is that Russia as an advanced industrial country with lots of natural resources had a lot of booty to share. As a result, people arise out of nowhere to command enterprises worth billions. And disappear just as quickly when their sponsors in the government are ousted. Although these scenes occur in the 1990s, they will remind you of stories about Prohibition in the United States. For example, night spots are publicly rated for the likelihood that criminals will start shooting at each other in them as well as the likelihood of being able to arrange for sexual favors. Business people operate with teams of former commandos as body guards. The disregard for society's needs is pretty strong. In a section called "The Zone" you will read about visiting the radioactive sites in and around Chernobyl. While the visitors are wearing protective gear and leaving quickly when the radiation count gets too high, people have been bribed with good jobs to come work and live in these dangerous areas without any protection. Stories about six-fingered children and other indications of genetic damage abound.But the most chilling story for me was about a training session in capitalism run for some youths in a Young Pioneers camp. Set up to mimic a free market, the youngsters were soon counterfeiting money, intimidating each other, cornering scarce supplies, and generally running the show corruptly to favor themselves. It seemed like a perfect analogy for what was occuring in the whole country. With such an ingrained, warped reaction to wide-open capitalism, can Russian have much hope for improvement? I certainly hope so. But, if that is to occur, the prescription will not be found in these pages that outline the abuses. The stories of daily living are also compelling. If you drive a car in the capital, you will get at least one traffic ticket a day.

Casino Moscow, about post-Soviet Russian and Eastern Europe, is a surprising page turner. Having worked in Russia and other former Soviet Republics, I was walking back in time as I read the book. Brzezinki's accurate portrayal of the life an expat (from the initial shock upon arrival, to the slow immersion to local custom, all the way to going native) and the business customs and irregularities (finding business partners, traveling on local transport, needless and antiquated bureaucracy, the mafia and all of the ironies in between). I laughed at loud at times and other times was reminded how scary a place to live it was. I think the comparisons to Liar's Poker are apt. The story is griping, funny, and for many people I know, all too close to reality. Billions of dollars at play in an unregulated wild west arena. He has the oil fields, oil men, bankers, Chechens, Tartars, Radisson, Nightflight, dinner parties, expat haunts, trips to the provinces,....all of it down pat and eerily reminiscent of what I know to be true. Casino Moscow culminates with an interesting and credible (hailing from the WSJ) perspective on the final spurts of Russian economic "growth."