I think we lost a good opportunity to bring Russia closer to us during the 1990’s to the GW Bush era.
>>>>I think we lost a good opportunity to bring Russia closer to us during the 1990’s to the GW Bush era.<<<<<
Yep, in late 1980s Russians liked Reagan, they were learning the way western society and economy working etc. The problem is that by 1993 their government was full of liberal Clinton-Soros advisors who watched the reforms.
As a result there wasn’t any true privatization of socialist property, it was simply looted and parted between former-communist oligarchy and Soros’s agents.
Freedom of speech and assembly was reduced to promoting drugs and gay parades.
No rule of law was established to replace Soviet legal system, the government of single Russia which was a part of SU along with 15 nations became actually larger than the entire Soviet government in terms of both the number of officials and their control functions.
New oligarchs couldn’t manage that much assets they looted and for that reason a number of decent companies simply went out of business. For that reason, world’s second economy in 1990 worth some $2,5 trilion in 1980s dollars turned into a $20 billion economy (in late 1990s dollars) by 1998.
Economic decline was actually worse than it was during the WWII when they were invaded by Nazis. The loss of jobs was huge. An already tiny average Soviet income of about $9000 a year turned into 15-20 bucks a month. And they couldn’t maintain extensive Soviet welfare system which made old and disabled live off the dumpsters and die in sewers.
There were enough idiots pointing at American advizors and Soros’s types to claim the whole reforms as an evil American plot and democracy itself as an evil tool to ruin economy and society.
Next there was a civil war with muslim separatists who were largely supported by US government, NATO enlargement, Yugoslavian wars there US supported muslims against Russian allies, US efforts in Asia to pave road for China into Russian underbelly, missile shield in Europe, constant critizism and sanctioning Russia for violation of muslim and gay rights etc.
All of the above made a majority of Russian public into an idea that US actually played a friend at the time and in fact is no friend but evil Sodom dreaming to obliterate their nice Motherland at first opportunity. It is how they see it.
There is a lot wrong in their thinking and lots of the above is their own fault, but they still have some points as well.