Did Our Government Mishandle the Collapse of the USSR?

[The Whiskey Priest]

There are rumors that over one hundred suitcase nuclear weapons are missing from the USSR arsenal. At the time of the collapse when we could have assisted financially with the transition from a communist government to a more democratic government the Republicans fought against any assistance.

During the first years following the collapse the Russia government was financial unable to protect its stockpile of weapons. Was it criminally negligent of our political leaders not to have done all it could to protect us from rouge elements securing small nuclear devices?

Why didn’t the Republicans want to do all they could to protect those weapons? Why didn’t Bush I push to see that the weapons were protected?

[bahrbearian]

1. They wanted to have at least 1 for the October surprise.

[kalian]

2. In a word....

yes...

[Amerpie]

3. We like WMDs

Our realtionship with Israel demonstrates that we like our potential allies to have WMDs. If Russians sell nukes to terrorists, hey, we have an opportunity for a very profitable war!

[On the Road]

4. Absolutely, Positively

It started under Bush I but was continued under Clinton.

The transition was too fast -- there was a power vacuum which was filled by organized crime and the most ruthless elements within the old Soviet government. We allowed former apparatchiks to steal much of the country's natural wealth. Standards of living plummeted. This was not a good tradeoff for ordinary Russians.

Instead of businessmen looking for privatization contracts, the US needed to send non-ideological economists with a respect for government and no axe to grind. John Kenneth Galbraith, for example, proposed that the consumer sector be turned over to the free market immediately, since it was a disaster, while the government-owned natural resouce companies be retained for awhile until the economic, political, and legal structures were more stable. His views were not accepted.

[bubblesby2002]

5. You are so right.

I wonder what could have happened if JK Galbraith's suggestions were heeded. We would have a very different Russia today, and by extension, the world.