Comments on: Why Facebook and Silicon Valley owe it all to Moscow

By: Greg Satell

Greg Satell — Thu, 10 May 2012 11:39:09 +0000

No. Greg has lived in Moscow, ran media businesses in Eastern Europe for 15 years (including Bigmir and Korrespondent) and speaks from first-hand experience.

By: Renata Akhunova

Renata Akhunova — Wed, 09 May 2012 23:54:10 +0000

Guess, Greg is reading ‘yellow’ media too much… :)

By: Bobbie Johnson

Bobbie Johnson — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:33:10 +0000

Greg — but that’s the point. Sensitive or no, it’s worth remembering that the current pseudo-boom in the Valley is forged in large part from Russian money — now more than ever.

By: Greg Satell

Greg Satell — Wed, 09 May 2012 10:14:52 +0000

Actually, not such a small group. Mail.ru is backed by Naspers (also a major investor in Tencent and QXL) and posting a headline like that while Moscow is erupting in demonstrations and Moscow backed Victor Yanukovitch’s actions are leading to a boycott of Euro 2012 is, at best, insensitive.

By: Bobbie Johnson

Bobbie Johnson — Tue, 08 May 2012 15:42:55 +0000

Yes I have, and yes I have. I’ve been very skeptical of Milner’s motives and actions in the past. And I certainly don’t care much for the authoritarian, corrupt politics of Russia. Nor do I think this investment comes without consequences.

But my point is that without the intervention of this small group of Russian investors, the people who are making a ton of cash off the back of US tech companies may never have seen a penny. That’s something worth remembering.

By: Daniel Haim

Daniel Haim — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:12:55 +0000

The title is really strong and very political.

By: Thomas Zangerl

Thomas Zangerl — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:21:18 +0000

Let’s hope then that we won’t have to thank Mr. Millner for a second tech bubble…

By: Greg Satell

Greg Satell — Tue, 08 May 2012 10:12:22 +0000

You’ve obviously never been to Moscow or done business with Russians or you wouldn’t writing things like this. The headline, especially, is in particularly bad test given that the events there this week.

I know this is a tech blog, but if you’re going to write about a place, you should at least have some awareness about it.