A chance for Putin | beyondbrics:
"In the spring of 1987, I flew to Moscow with a team of several dozen US officials to negotiate what would become the last trade and economic agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union. In reality, it became a bit of a blueprint in addressing the privatisation of the Russian economic system under then General Secretary of the Soviet Socialist Republics Mikhail Gorbechev. Over the course of several days the Soviet and US teams addressed most sectors of the economy from finance and tourism to legal structures and manufacturing. Although our approach was far from perfect, it laid a foundation, along with perestroika and glasnost, that allowed Russia to prosper for more than 25 years.
Since that time, I have watched as Russia has gone from state-centric decay, to black-market driven. I have seen the system devolve from broken socialist idealism, to rampant capitalist greed run amok.
For a brief period in the mid-2000s it seemed as though the Russian economy and Russian people would have a chance at a diversified, market-driven economy. Russia was open for business. Reforms were being instituted. State control seemed to be moving towards balanced regulation of standards and away from kleptocratic enrichment of the few. But it was not to be."
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