Should the transition nouveau riche , who acquired their wealth almost overnight in the murky waters of marketisation, be unconditionally admitted to the ranks of great achievers?  

Only five people on Forbes's list of the world's richest individuals beat Oleg Deripaska, the 39 year old Russian oligarch, who recently raided his US$30 billion kitty to acquire a 5 per cent stake in General Motors. That despite the fact that he can't enter the United States due to the suspicious origin of his wealth.

For the record and just in case you wondered, Roman Abramovich, best known to Western audiences as the owner of the English Premier League football club Chelsea, is no longer the richest Eastern European. His ‘paltry' US$22 billion, the lack of love from the Putin regime, and a US$300 million divorce, have cost him the not-so-coveted position at the top of the Wprost list of the 100 richest Eastern Europeans (50 of whom are billionaires). Most of them have been accused of getting rich by privatising the national resources of their respective countries of origin. All of them are on the Forbes global billionaires list.