The high cost of wrecking the Soviet Union | Letters
(The Guardian Russia)

Will Goble compares the west´s approach to Germany after the second world war with its treatment of Russia after the collapse of communismNatalie Nougayrede is right that post-Soviet Russia should have been offered the `equivalent of a Marshall plan` which `would have prevented its slide towards authoritarianism` (It may take years, but we need to plan for Russia after Putin, 9 December).Those of us who remember the collapse of the iron curtain and Soviet communism during those heady days of 1989-91 could scarcely have believed that events would have turned out the way they have. The west´s response to those near-miraculous years was a combination of `You´re free now. Goodbye and good luck` and shameless exploitation and profiteering of `new markets`. Continue reading...