Osita Nwanevu Explains How ‘We The People’ Can Save the Country from Oligarchs, Tyrants and Thieves

Sep 1, 2025 | As American democracy collapses in slow motion to a tin-pot tyrant, journalist and author Osita Nwanevu joins Anthony Davis to explain how ‘we the people’ can save the country from oligarchs - and how grass roots organizing is already demonstrating success for Democratic candidates - only on The Weekend Show.

ANTHONY DAVIS can be supported on Patreon here.

Switzerland: A Haven for Russian Money? | DW Documentary

May 27, 2024 | Despite sanctions against Russia, asset managers are said to have hidden money belonging to Putin‘s confidants. This documentary follows the trail of shadow bankers and high-ranking Russian officials to Switzerland.

Private jets and villas, bank accounts and financial assets: Switzerland is coming under criticism from the international community. Have Swiss asset managers and well-known institutions circumvented sanctions against wealthy Russians with good connections to the Kremlin?

When the Russian army invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the European Union responded with sanctions against Russia. Russian oligarchs who did business in Europe were also affected. Many of them keep their assets in Swiss private banks. Switzerland joined the sanctions, albeit hesitantly and only under pressure from abroad.

However, it appears that some Russian citizens are still managing to circumvent the sanctions. This is indicated by internal documents from a Zurich-based asset manager that were published on the darknet for a short time in 2023. How extensive are the concealed Russian assets? How seriously did the Swiss authorities take the sanctions? And by what means are the US and Europe trying to force the hand of the Swiss banks?

Rise of Russia’s Oligarchs: How They Seized Power and Built Empires | PARTS 1 & 2 | SLICE WHO

Nov 14, 2024 | At the turn of the century, Russia's oligarchs had amassed unimaginable fortunes, building financial empires in the chaos following the Soviet Union’s collapse. These powerful men controlled Russia’s key industries, wielding influence that rivaled the state. They built their wealth by seizing state assets through savvy, often ruthless deals, becoming billionaires in just a few years.

Among them was Boris Berezovsky, once a kingmaker in Russian politics and a symbol of the new elite. Berezovsky helped launch Putin to power, only to later become his fiercest enemy. As Russia’s government began reclaiming these oligarchs’ assets and dismantling their empires, Berezovsky led a high-stakes battle from exile.

This documentary dives into the fortunes built, the backroom deals, and the conflicts that arose between Russia’s billionaire class and a state determined to regain control, revealing the untold drama of wealth, betrayal, and power at the heart of modern Russia.

The Weirdness of America’s Oligarchs

Jul 4, 2025 | Ken Harbaugh speaks with Kris Goldsmith about the extremist (and extremely weird) worldview of America’s new tech oligarchs, including men like Peter Thiel, one of the main backers of the Trump regime.

Bernie Sanders: Oligarchs Are Our Modern Day Kings | Reupload

Feb 11, 2025

What Is the End Goal of the Trump/Musk Administration?

Feb 15, 2025

Oligarchs Are Our Modern-day Kings

Feb 11, 2025

"The PayPal Mafia": The South African Oligarchs Surrounding Trump, from Elon Musk to Peter Thiel

Feb 10, 2025 | President Trump's targeting of South Africa is clearly tied to his influential adviser Elon Musk and a coterie of wealthy U.S. oligarchs, "all of whom in some way or other grew up in South Africa as children." These men are known as the "PayPal Mafia" due to their involvement in the founding of the financial tech company PayPal, explains reporter Chris McGreal. McGreal, a former South Africa correspondent for _The Guardian_, outlines Musk's pro-apartheid and neo-Nazi family history, which appears to form the basis of his adherence to a right-wing ideology that believes white South Africans "are the victims of the end of apartheid" and at risk of a "white genocide."

Democracy Now! can be supported here.

In France and Germany, They’re Seizing Super-yachts. | #shorts

But here in London!!! I wonder who is getting the backhanders? Oh! This corrupt Tory régime!

Mick Lynch Rails against "Oligarch" Tories Destroying the Country

Jul 5, 2023 | General Secretary of the RMT has said the government are running the country's public services into the ground. Speaking to PoliticsJOE on Wednesday, Mick Lynch said plans to close ticket offices were a prime example of the Tories' raging war on the United Kingdom, to the detriment of the people living there.

What have I been saying all along? That this country is rotten and corrupt at its very core. The Tories have a lot to answer for. And please do not think that I am a socialist; I am most certainly not. I have never voted socialist in my life. In fact, all my life, I have been a dyed-in-the-wool Conservative voter. But that all changed with that ridiculous Brexit. I shall never vote Conservative again. But I should add not only because of Brexit at this time; but also because the Conservative Party is no longer what it used to be: it cannot be trusted. Modern Conservatives have TRASHED this country. Moreover, they are continuing to trash it. Further, the country is no longer run for the benefit of ALL people, the many; rather, it is run for the benefit of the few – the very rich few. The 0.0001%. As far as the Tories are concerned, the rest of the people can eat the crumbs that fall under their tables. – © Mark Alexander

Why Petulant Oligarchs Rule Our World

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
OPINION: PAUL KRUGMAN
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Some years ago — I think it was 2015 — I got a quick lesson in how easy it is to become a horrible person. I was a featured speaker at a conference in São Paulo, Brazil, and my arrival flight was badly delayed. The organizers, worried that I would miss my slot thanks to the city’s notorious traffic, arranged to have me met at the airport and flown directly to the hotel’s roof by helicopter.

Then, when the conference was over, there was a car waiting to take me back to the airport. And just for a minute I found myself thinking, “What? I have to take a car?”

By the way, in real life I mostly get around on the subway.

Anyway, the lesson I took from my moment of pettiness was that privilege corrupts, that it very easily breeds a sense of entitlement. And surely, to paraphrase Lord Acton, enormous privilege corrupts enormously, in part because the very privileged are normally surrounded by people who would never dare tell them that they’re behaving badly.

That’s why I’m not shocked by the spectacle of Elon Musk’s reputational self-immolation. Fascinated, yes; who isn’t? But when an immensely rich man, accustomed not just to getting whatever he wants but also to being a much-admired icon, finds himself not just losing his aura but becoming a subject of widespread ridicule, of course he lashes out erratically, and in so doing makes his problems even worse.

The more interesting question is why we’re now ruled by such people. For we’re clearly living in the age of the petulant oligarch. » | Paul Krugman | Monday, December 19, 2022

Rishi Sunak: The First Ever Oligarch Prime Minister | George Monbiot

Oct 31, 2022 | A historic moment for diversity: Britain's FIRST EVER oligarch Prime Minister!

Why Oligarchs Choose London for Their Dirty Money | The Economist

May 12, 2022 • Britain is one of the best places in the world to launder dirty money. Our new film tells you why—and asks whether that's likely to change.

Daily Briefing Mar. 16: Special Report from Lviv; ‘Toxic’ Oligarchs; Polio in Israel

THE TIMES OF ISRAEL: Carrie Keller-Lynn on the ground in Ukraine; Ricky Ben-David on what’s at stake with Israel’s oligarchs; Nathan Jeffay on a new coronavirus variant and cigarettes for kids on Purim

Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 15-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East, and the Jewish world, from Sunday through Thursday. With podcast » |TOI Staff | Wednesday, March 16, 2022

Shady Oligarch's Case A Test Of President Trump's Department Of Justice | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC

Rachel Maddow reports on the murky overlap between Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash, Vladimir Putin, and the Donald Trump campaign and alerts viewers to watch for whether the Department of Justice under Trump continues to pursue a case against Firtash.