It was the most awful time to live in the ex-USSR countries. Economic system and all the industries were destroyed overnight by Western "advisors" (shock "therapy"). People literally started dying of hunger. Numerous conflicts between different nations (I have little doubt that they happened without typical Western intervention) killed tens of thousands, maybe millions.
And if someone still says that World Economics is not a zero-sum game, I'll laugh in the face of that person.
USSR was destroyed and plundered exactly so that the West would enjoy the golden era of 90s while people were dying here and everything was being destroyed and sold to the West by the price of scrap metal.
I'm not sure that 'the west' is to blame for Russian kleptocrats stealing Russian assets from the Russian people. At some point this is a Russia problem.
All those "Russian kleptocrats" were made by the West. You've probably heard the name of Khodorkovskiy which is a thug who illegally grabbed state assets during privatization organized by CIA agents and was doing mainly two things: killing people (his competitors or people trying to investigate his dirty business) and selling the oil to the West for the price of water.
So, how do you think he's portrayed in the western media? As a freedom fighter and icon. It's unbelievable! But strength of western propaganda is unbeatable, they can make an idol out of anyone.
If I steal your tires and sell them to a pawn shop is the primary problem me, or is the pawn shop? I know it's fashionable to bellyache about the west but if the former USSR had a healthy, functioning government it wouldn't have these problems. The government was weak, it didn't have the support it needed, and it failed.
USSR was destroyed and plundered exactly so that the West would enjoy the golden era of 90s while people were dying here and everything was being destroyed and sold to the West by the price of scrap metal.
You think that the measly Russian economic output is what paid for the 90s boom?
And what do all these Russian oligarchs own? The Russians were preyed upon by their own, Putin being the finest example of this.
You know little of our history and economics. Even from the two statements you wrote it's clear that you're simply repeating the most unsophisticated media propaganda, sorry.
Putin came to power in 1999. Until then there was hunger, rampant crime and corruption. He managed to stop all that in just 2-3 years. People started to eat right, they had normal jobs again, it had become safe to go outside.
Western media that disguise as "Russian opposition" that work on destroying Russia from within, still have a very hard time explaining this to population. Because everyone who lived through the 90s remember very clearly how Putin managed to fix everything at once so quickly.
But to the western reader there's no need to explain that, you can start outright with the most obnoxious lies about Putin, since nobody there understands what happened here before and after Putin.
> You think that the measly Russian economic output is what paid for the 90s boom?
People on the West are used to count everything in paper (USD) which is printed in absurd amounts and allows them to inflate their GDP as they wish.
USSR economic output was higher than Russian. USSR had lots of resources, including immense supply of strategic materials (precious metals for example).
1. All that was sold to the West for the price of scrap. Also, not only materials, but plane's, ships and rockets blueprints, scientists, teachers, sport coaches. Just about everything that could be sold.
2. Collapse of the USSR and deliberate destruction of all the industry overnight created a huge market for Western corporations. Just overnight.
And yes, that paid for the boom of 90s.
> And what do all these Russian oligarchs own? The Russians were preyed upon by their own
And do you know how that happened? Before 1991 everything was state owned. After 1991 it was the western "advisors" (from CIA and that's not even a conspiracy theory) that created Russian oligarchs. Also made a buck themselves while being at it.
And if someone still says that World Economics is not a zero-sum game, I'll laugh in the face of that person.
USSR was destroyed and plundered exactly so that the West would enjoy the golden era of 90s while people were dying here and everything was being destroyed and sold to the West by the price of scrap metal.