On Christmas Day, 1991, the world was delivered the most wonderful gift: the bloodless fall of the Soviet Union. The hammer and sickle were lowered for the last time from atop of the Kremlin, to be replaced by the pre-revolutionary Russian tricolor, signaling victory of democratic capitalism over totalitarian communism. Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as president of the Soviet Union; Boris Yeltsin remained as president of the new Confederation of Independent States (CIS), and the Cold War, which had lasted over 45 years, had finally ended. After 70 years of oppressive communism, Russians could breathe a sigh of relief and, looking Westward, wistfully say: “We’re all democrats now.”
Alas, while many were justifiably celebrating this epochal transition, events were already taking place months prior that were destined to gradually and totally nullify a Christmas gift of nothing less than providential proportions. Indeed, the prospect of an age of peace and goodwill, with strong GDP growth spurred by diversion of resources to domestic capital formation and productivity gains, benefiting both East and West, proved a mere chimera. – READ MORE
