G8 leaders competed to host Live 8 concerts, blurring elite-protest boundaries.

Evidence

If you weren’t already suspicious of the dull unanamity that coalesced on Saturday [Live 8], reflect on the fact that the Russian show only happened because Putin didn’t want to be the only G8 leader whose country did not have a Live 8 gig. That fact alone reveals that the relationship between the current ruling elite and their ostensible opponents in the entertainment biz goes far beyond complicity. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1413