I have been reading a book on the Soviet collapse in 1991. One interesting part is the debates in the Bush White House. It seems there were two factions:
*The James Baker option - embrace the new Russian regime, send them Marshall Plan like aid to rebuild their society, and prop them up as an ally
*The Dick Cheney plan - take advantage of Russian weakness to permanently cripple a rival.
The Cheney plan was adopted, and in retrospect it may be one more foreign policy disaster that we can blame him for.
Nah. The Bush Admin had less than a year to enact any serious policy response. It was left to Clinton and his merry band of vulture capitalists to pick the bones of the Russiam carcass to enrich themselves, prop up the drunkard Yeltsin, and so enrage the Russian people that they turned to an autocrat, Putin.