Because of an article* in the New York Times last weekend, it is now a matter of public record that the Russian government is handing over the school textbook market to Arkady Rotenberg, a friend of President Vladimir Putin's who heads the board of directors of a major publishing house, Prosveshcheniye (Russian for Enlightenment).

It's easy to portray Russia as a shameless kleptocracy where any and all principles are sacrificed to the enrichment of Putin's clique, but the story is more complicated. It's also worse.

The Russian book market is a familiar subject to me: In 2010 and 2011, I ran the business-book division of Eksmo, then one of the country's two biggest book publishers and now undisputed market leader.