Alex Krainer — The Strangulation of the Russian Economy in the 1990s Was a Deliberate IMF policy

The foregoing article is an excerpt from Chapter 3 of my book “Grand Deception: the Truth about Bill Browder, Magnitsky Act and Anti-Russian Sanctions.” Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here.

Shock therapy gave Russia one of the worst and longest economic depressions of the 20th century, an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe for a peace time crisis, and a criminally inequitable privatization of public assets. The reasons why things happened this way in Russia generally aren’t well understood in the west. Even among better informed intellectuals, the failure of shock therapy is often thought to be vaguely related to some sinister flaw in the Russian society.

It is what Bill Browder characterized as “the dirty dishonesty of Russia,” or “Russia’s evil foundation,” which spawned corruption and criminality of staggering proportions. In this toxic environment, the sweet fruits of western democracy and capitalism simply could not grow in spite of the generous benevolence of Russia’s western friends.

Such a credulous version of events was never based on any coherent analysis of what transpired in Russia during the 1990s. Rather, it was based on purposeful perception management in the Western media....

While many among Russia’s western helpers did come with sincere and honorable intentions, the whole project, insofar as it was determined by its command and control structure, was simply a massive, bald-faced criminal enterprise.…

Putin is hated since he stepped in and halted it. Too his credit, at the end Yeltsin recognized what was happening and brought in Vladimir Putin to correct it. He did, to a great degree, without creating undue discord in Russia by working to balance the social, political and economic interests involved. It's a monumental task to switch systems and Putin has done a reasonably good job of it.

The Western neoliberal solution had been to "let the market" sort it out, ignoring the role of power relations. It nearly destroyed Russian society.

Russia Insider
The Strangulation of the Russian Economy in the 1990s Was a Deliberate IMF policy

Alex Krainer
Reprinted from a 6 part series at The Naked Hedgie. This is part 3.

See also

Former hedge fund manager Bill Browder, the faux crusader for human rights, has made very serious claims of corruption against Vladimir Putin, claims which many media personalities in the West have treated as true and factual without ever challenging them. Browder, the go-to expert on Putin’s corruption, presents these claims in his bestseller, “Red Notice.” At first blush, they show Vladimir Putin in a very negative light that may shock the reader. A more careful scrutiny of Browder’s case shows it to be a disingenous, baseless smear, which further begs the question: if this is the best (worst) Browder can offer as proof against Putin, what exactly do the ceaseless allegations of his corruption amount to? The following excerpt from my book (currently banned, but available here in electronic format) examines the merits of Bill Borwder’s assertions.

Whenever publications or media are banned or censored, either officially by law or regulation, or unofficially by being held off the market, it is a tell.

The Naked Hedge
How Bill Browder “proved” Vladimir Putin’s corruption