[habs4ever]

To make that feasible would have required INSTANT rule of law in Russia to attract Western investment into an area that hadn't seen capital expenditures, in real terms, in the O&G industry, since 1958.No bank was going to lend or joint venture made until property rights could be guaranteed.

You have to remember too, who the dullards were who set foreign policy back then.They were the "stability at any price crowd", such as Brent Scowcroft and Larry Eagleburger.Not exactly visionary Reganites.

[Alberta's Child]

As one of my friends so clearly pointed out, you have to see the whole issue from 1991 to 2003 from the perspective of a foreign diplomat. The official policy of the U.S. toward Iraq has not changed from the end Bush administration through the Clinton administration, and up until today.

In an electoral system like ours where the people in office can change frequently, I think we tend to forget that the U.S. often makes plans like these that take years to develop.