Kremlin Gives B--chslap

Glasnot wasn't bad, until the consultants showed up from the West and tried to wrench a country solidly stuck in 1972 into the modern era. Needless to say, there was some wasted cash, broken infrastructure, and bruised egos. Turns out, some bruises take a while to heal.

The World Economic Forum was apparently the site for slights today, as China's representative slyly decried the excesses of the You-Know-Who-S-of-A. Then this:[Fortune]

At the official opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Davos,
Putin, now Russian Prime Minister, delivered a 40-minute speech touching on
everything from why the dollar should not be the sole reserve currency to how
the world needed to enter into a smart energy partnership with Russia. Then it
was time for questions. First up: Dell. He praised Russia's technical and
scientific prowess, and then asked: "How can we help" you to expand IT in
Russia.
...
Putin's withering reply to Dell: "We don't need help. We are not invalids.
We don't have limited mental capacity." The slapdown took many of the people in
the audience by surprise. Putin then went on to outline some of the steps the
Russian government has taken to wire up the country, including remote villages
in Siberia. And, in a final dig at Dell, he talked about how Russian scientists
were rightly respected not for their hardware, but for their software. The
implication: Any old fool can build a PC outfit.

Now who's the fear-mongering autocrat, huh?!