On Ukraine and Russia

[brush]

6. What happen in Russia after the USSR fell apart is not our fault.

Gorbachev resigned after a failed coup against him by hardliner Marxist-Leninists against glasnost and his reforms to loosen control over the eastern European republics. He also introduced an election for the president of the USSR, which Boris Yelsin won.

The Soviet Union fell apart soon after as Gorbachev, the General Secretary of the USSR wasn't elected and Yelsin, who was, took over.

Unlike Germany after WWll, there was no war there for us to help them recover from like in post-war Germany so to say the US is to blame by forcing privatization is farfetched. Yelsin was an inadequate leader (booze), and the oligarchs needed no help from us in privatizing everything in sight to enrich themselves.

Yelsin stepped down and turned leadership over to Putin and the rest is history. The oligarchs shared wealth with Putin btw so they could retain what they grabbed. We had no control there.