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Mikhail Gorbachev has died

(www.reuters.com)
970 points homarp | 1 comments | 30 Aug 22 20:37 UTC | HN request time: 0.219s | source
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lapcat ◴[30 Aug 22 21:07 UTC] No.32655071[source]▶
The United States didn't do enough to help Russia transition to democracy in the 1990s. There was no "Marshall Plan" after the Cold War like there was after World War II. This was a huge mistake, and we see the consequences now, with Russia having turned back toward totalitarianism and imperialism. Sadly, it seems that Gorbachev's efforts were mostly for naught. But it was courageous at the time to open up the Soviet Union to glasnost and perestroika.

Of course Yeltsin was a big part of the problem too.

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1. EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK ◴[31 Aug 22 00:19 UTC] No.32656849[source]▶
Don't think lack of Marshall plan is to blame. Russian economy was totally dependent on oil and gas exports since 1970s. Very low oil prices in 1990s contributed to widespread poverty and allowed few oligarchs to scoop all the assets very cheaply. Putin's rise to power coincided, by chance only, with dramatic oil price recovery. So people learned to correlate good life with a strong leader, and poverty - with democracy.