O.G. Czar Nicholas II

Welcome to five minutes ago, Hedge Fund Managers. Media moguls, you are so last millennium. Rappers, don't even front. For journalists wishing to drool over the lifestyles of the insanely wealthy—or at least, you know, cover them objectively—it's all about the Russians.

In today's New York Times, Andrew E. Kramer reports from Moscow on the second annual Millionaire Fair. Since you probably weren't invited, you missed out on the "elaborate booths offering a range of high-priced products, from jets and yachts to private islands and more familiar luxury goods," including a $1.7 million cell phone encrusted with diamonds.

Not everyone finds all that fizzy, crazy Russian wealth so enviable or endearing. In the Guardian's account of the event, Victor Ilyukhin, identified as a communist deputy, says, "I think that such fairs are needed ... so that we can put snipers around the outside and shoot all of the visitors like parasites. None of them have made their money honestly."

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