Anne Applebaum

You know, I don't think like even Stalin had a thing about pencils or about being too many pencils. Although it's funny, I do remember there was a shortage of pencils in the Soviet Union and it was a big problem. I know that, for example, accountants in the Gulag often had trouble getting pencils to make their accounts.

You know, I don't think like even Stalin had a thing about pencils or about being too many pencils. Although it's funny, I do remember there was a shortage of pencils in the Soviet Union and it was a big problem. I know that, for example, accountants in the Gulag often had trouble getting pencils to make their accounts.

You know, I don't think like even Stalin had a thing about pencils or about being too many pencils. Although it's funny, I do remember there was a shortage of pencils in the Soviet Union and it was a big problem. I know that, for example, accountants in the Gulag often had trouble getting pencils to make their accounts.

And they talk about creating them from bits of charcoal and people kept records with all kinds of things because there was a scarcity of pencils even out there. So maybe it was a decision that Stalin made without telling us. Of course, there's the more famous line attributed, probably incorrectly, to Marie Antoinette, which is,

And they talk about creating them from bits of charcoal and people kept records with all kinds of things because there was a scarcity of pencils even out there. So maybe it was a decision that Stalin made without telling us. Of course, there's the more famous line attributed, probably incorrectly, to Marie Antoinette, which is,

And they talk about creating them from bits of charcoal and people kept records with all kinds of things because there was a scarcity of pencils even out there. So maybe it was a decision that Stalin made without telling us. Of course, there's the more famous line attributed, probably incorrectly, to Marie Antoinette, which is,

when she was told that the people of France have no bread, she said, let them eat cake. And so I suppose we're, we're now waiting for Trump to say they have no pencils. Let them use fountain pens.

when she was told that the people of France have no bread, she said, let them eat cake. And so I suppose we're, we're now waiting for Trump to say they have no pencils. Let them use fountain pens.

when she was told that the people of France have no bread, she said, let them eat cake. And so I suppose we're, we're now waiting for Trump to say they have no pencils. Let them use fountain pens.

So if you look around the world, if you look at what links modern dictators and stipulate that modern dictators have very different ideologies, you have nationalist Russia and communist China and theocratic Iran and whatever North Korea is and the Bolivarian socialists in Venezuela. And you ask, what is it they have in common? Why do they support one another, which they do?

So if you look around the world, if you look at what links modern dictators and stipulate that modern dictators have very different ideologies, you have nationalist Russia and communist China and theocratic Iran and whatever North Korea is and the Bolivarian socialists in Venezuela. And you ask, what is it they have in common? Why do they support one another, which they do?

So if you look around the world, if you look at what links modern dictators and stipulate that modern dictators have very different ideologies, you have nationalist Russia and communist China and theocratic Iran and whatever North Korea is and the Bolivarian socialists in Venezuela. And you ask, what is it they have in common? Why do they support one another, which they do?

Why do they help keep one another in power, which they do? There's a whole consortia of countries keeping one the Venezuelan dictator Maduro in power, for example, even though they would seem to have nothing in common.

Why do they help keep one another in power, which they do? There's a whole consortia of countries keeping one the Venezuelan dictator Maduro in power, for example, even though they would seem to have nothing in common.

Why do they help keep one another in power, which they do? There's a whole consortia of countries keeping one the Venezuelan dictator Maduro in power, for example, even though they would seem to have nothing in common.

One of the answers is that they all share an interest in stealing and hiding money and in helping one another evade the sanctions that have been set up to prevent them from doing that and in perpetuating their own, not just their own power, but their own wealth.

One of the answers is that they all share an interest in stealing and hiding money and in helping one another evade the sanctions that have been set up to prevent them from doing that and in perpetuating their own, not just their own power, but their own wealth.

One of the answers is that they all share an interest in stealing and hiding money and in helping one another evade the sanctions that have been set up to prevent them from doing that and in perpetuating their own, not just their own power, but their own wealth.

And there is now a set of systems that exist, some of which are facilitated by the Western financial world, by the offshore banking havens that we've created and the shell company system that we've created that helps people hide money. But it's the one thing that they have all in common and it's the one thing that they all pursue.

And there is now a set of systems that exist, some of which are facilitated by the Western financial world, by the offshore banking havens that we've created and the shell company system that we've created that helps people hide money. But it's the one thing that they have all in common and it's the one thing that they all pursue.