> I think there were ways for the Soviet Union to have gone away that didn’t involve Russia (and to varying extents, the other states) becoming the kleptocracy

> I think there were ways for the Soviet Union to have gone away that didn’t involve Russia (and to varying extents, the other states) becoming the kleptocracy it is now. It was, and rather violent: go, and cleanse the remnants of the old system. A missed opportunity now. Instead, people let them live for them just to come back in 9 years time.