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comment by kleinbl00
kleinbl00  ·  2271 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The Butcher Builders: How Western Journalists Helped Create a Monster in Russia

I didn't say "monetary influx." There was plenty of money flying at Russia, it was just flying at things Western businesses thought could make them money. Things did not go well.

If the West-East postwar conversation and focus had been people to people, instead of CEO-to-nomenklatura, the people on both sides would have done better. lend/lease. Small business. Security for dissidents. All these "Western" values we've always lorded over everyone else - we did nothing to help them thrive in the ashes of the USSR. What we did was try to make a buck. Results went as expected.





FirebrandRoaring  ·  2270 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Hm. Any reading on it that you could recommend?

kleinbl00  ·  2270 days ago  ·  link  ·  

My most recent read on the rise of Putin and the economic conditions from whence he sprang is Masha Gessen's The Man Without a Face. I'm also a big fan of Tony Judt's Postwar, although Russia is slightly peripheral.

FirebrandRoaring  ·  2270 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Cheers. Saved.