What caused misery in Russia was that after the collapse of the USSR, the way “democracy” and “capitalism” were implemented was by handing over the country’s na

What caused misery in Russia was that after the collapse of the USSR, the way “democracy” and “capitalism” were implemented was by handing over the country’s natural resources, infrastructure, machinery, etc. to a few kleptocrats, with everyone else left to fend for themselves. As far as I can tell this was done with the support and encouragement of the USA and Europe (especially various wealthy Americans and Europeans who made a whole lot of extra money out of it). It took a few years for the Russian mafia to consolidate power, but now the country looks to this outside observer like a mob-owned dictatorship with a weak economy, weak state institutions, little public accountability, no future orientation, poor career prospects for the well educated, etc. The main sources of power are (a) sizable natural resource reserves including gas, (b) nuclear weapons, (c) a shameless government which is willing and able to stir up a lot of shit in other countries. > When did Iraq get Democracy? It’s hard to form any kind of “democracy” when a foreign military comes and destroys your local infrastructure, dismantles your local institutions, kills a substantial proportion of your population, sparks off a civil war, provides local paramilitary groups with loads of weapons, etc.