Kleptocracy

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kleptocracy ('klepto' meaning 'theft' in Ancient Greek) is the ruling of possibly any kind of government that uses its power to steal from its people. This rarely-applied word was used by Charles Krauthammer, the nationally syndicated Washington Post columnist and political commentator on Fox-TV, on Saturday, March 2, and Sunday, March 3, 2014. He referred to Russia as a kleptocracy in a TV panel discussion about its influence in the revolution in the neighboring Ukraine in late February. His political column added another derivation of this word: kleptocratic.

"Kleptocratic" is used by Krauthammer in the following quote: "But surely the West has more financial clout than Russia's kleptocratic extraction economy that exports little but oil, gas and wisky."

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