A mad world

Keith Dovkants has a great feature in the Standard on  the relationship between Rothschild and Deripaska. But this anecdote stood out to me:

“Witness his excursion into Kalmykia, a remote Russian republic run by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, a charismatic leader who fought an election campaign on promises of providing a free mobile phone for every shepherd and a guarantee that Diego Maradonna would be signed up by the local football team.

Ilyumzhinov confides in friends that he had been captured by aliens and has glimpsed a view of the universe not allowed most mortals. His political ruthlessness is combined with a sense of divine right and what rare visitors to his country call a shocking charm.”