What's not true? Why should they have expected a Marshall type plan, and what would have stopped the oligarchs from just taking that aid like they did with everything else? What makes you think they would not have ripped off the U.S. like they did to everything else in the country, and the reason there has not been a lot of foreign investment is because of the corruption, something that has been ongoing before the dissolution of the Soviet Union. There was no great yearning to go back to socialism from the total populace just the ones who had power under socialism. I am getting blocked from that LA Times article, so I don't know what it is supposed to prove. The Marshall plan was to rebuild what the Allies destroyed, so I have no idea why you think Russia deserved to be bailed out after the 1980s especially after what had happened since WW II. The U.S. was also not economically in the same position in the 1980's as they were in the 1940's.
I can't tell you why they should have expected a Marshall type plan, only that they did. As for the Oligarchs, they existed because of the 90's when Russia was trying to unsuccessfully transition to a free market economy. They didn't know what they were doing and simple corruption is what allows oligarchs to become uber rich - many of them started from nothing actually. Russia didn't know what they were doing, and we simply didn't want to get involved. We spent a trillion dollars on Afghanistan, so you can't argue with a straight face that economically we couldn't afford a $100 billion. No one is saying just hand Russia cash, but rather a program to incentive US businesses to set up shop in Russia - I don't know why you think a plan has to involve giving money to Russian oligarchs.
Why is he invading the Ukraine and crippling the economy of the entire nation and his cronies? This is not a logical man, so you can't ask logical questions.
If they are going to do it, one would think they'd do it now while the worlds attention is on Ukraine, and while the EU/US are already taking a hit with brutal sanctions on Russia. Japan attacking in coordination with Germany in 1939 wasn't an accident either. Japan didn't care about Germany's grievances of lost territory coming out of WW1. They both were opportunistic. Japan invaded because they have too many people and no natural resources to sustain on an island. Quite different objectives than Germany in the 1930's.
Your article is from May 1991. The failed coup against Gorbachev was in August 1991. So your article is reflecting an overture from the still-extant USSR. After the failed coup, and Yeltsin's rise to power in Russia, and Gorbachev's dissolution of the USSR at the end of 1991, the whole landscape of what was possible or what Russians would want completely changed. I agree with jiggy here, I don't think there was any desire for American intervention in the former Soviet states after the collapse, it wouldn't have been advisable or welcomed. Russians would have seen it as economic imperialism taking advantage of their temporary weakness.
Oligarchs don't exist because of the 90's most of the oligarchs where former Russian officials who already had control of the most wealthy businesses. These people were already benefitting from being in control of these businesses. Post-Soviet business oligarchs include relatives or close associates of government officials, even government officials themselves, as well as criminal bosses often connected to the Russian government.[11] Some members of these groups achieved vast wealth by acquiring state assets very cheaply (or for free) during the privatization process controlled by the Yeltsin government of 1991–1999 And even if you want to say this just happened in the 90s how could the U.S. have stopped it by enacting a Marshal plan? We tried the marshal plan in Afghanistan and Iraq, and we see how that turned out. The same oligarchs would have ripped off the U.S. like they did to their own people.
But do think that the response of the entire world, as demonstrated with Russia, is the very definition of ****ing around and finding out that we are all way more connected in a global economy than China or Russia would like to pretend. Sure you can invade them...but your currency will be in the tank next week.
And so is the world coming together to cripple Russia's economy and it's very telling that China has not had Russians back on any of this and that's including a U.N. vote. There are a lot of considerations China has to consider, and it's not like the U.S. has not done anything militarily.
Japan also had grand illusions of being the chief of a Pan-Asian empire fighting back against the West...supported by an emperor who was regarded as essentially a deity. Japan had already been attacking for years and years throughout Asia, particularly in China. They didn't wait on the Germans to get started.
Forgive me if I'm being dense, but Hillary wasn't in any kind of official or diplomatic role in the 1990s when the looting occurred. So I don't see how her relationship with Putin plays into Sweet Lou's main point. I think there were definitely things that could have been done, but whether there was the necessarily political or popular will is certainly in doubt. And even there was, I don't think it would have been a matter of fixing anything, but rather making it better.
You’re both right; the sanctions are very devastating and paint a very clear picture for any would-be conquering nation. That said, this is a very good case for crypto.
