That scumbag Justin "I Love Dictators" Raimondo has yet another defense of the killing of liberal democracy in Russia at http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2006/12/28/a-new-cold-war-with-russia/

What's your take on it? Is a state monopoly that nationalized private companies and assets just another player in the market?

I resent your association of scumbags with Raimondo. It is an insult to scumbags.

Some people simply believe that a mercantilist state awash in rent-based revenues derived from renationalization of oil resources, attempting to monopolize energy markets through a state-owned firm, in an attempt to recreate an empire, is no different from a private firm in a free market. Such people call a scholar with detailed knowledge of the system who has been quite publicly critical of mercantilism, protectionism, and socialism an "alleged libertarian." The Lew Rockwells and Justin Raimondos have long since given up any claim to be serious friends of liberty, indeed, to be serious in any sense of the word.