| | The legend of Putin began the night of the [[Fall of the Wall]] in Germany. Putin was stationed in the consulate in [[Dresden]]. A mob had raided the [[East German]] [[Stasi]] headquarters and moved on to the Soviet consulate. In the chaos, communication with [[Moscow]] was cut off. Putin, acting alone without instructions and armed only with a pistol, stared down the mob and told them if they took one more step, they would be shot. The mob retreated and returned to continue pillaging the Stasi headquarters. | | The legend of Putin began the night of the [[Fall of the Wall]] in Germany. Putin was stationed in the consulate in [[Dresden]]. A mob had raided the [[East German]] [[Stasi]] headquarters and moved on to the Soviet consulate. In the chaos, communication with [[Moscow]] was cut off. Putin, acting alone without instructions and armed only with a pistol, stared down the mob and told them if they took one more step, they would be shot. The mob retreated and returned to continue pillaging the Stasi headquarters. |
| − | As the 1990s progressed, Western [[capital]] and corporate raiders flooded into Russia to buy up Soviet assets at bargain basement prices. Prior to the collapse, Soviet enterprises did not operate on the profit motive and received government subsidies, keeping outmoded factories and industries alive while operating at a loss to keep workers employed. When the subsidies and transfers of wealth perished with the Soviet government, the country fell into a deep recession. People were not very enamored with the transition to capitalism as foreign investors took control of the nation's economy.<ref>In a review of ''New York Times'' reporter Anne Williamson's book, ''Contagion: The Betrayal of Liberty -- Russia and the United States in the 1990s'', Paul Likoudis writes: "According to the [[socialist]] theoreticians at [[Harvard]], Russia needed to be brought into the [[New World Order]] in a hurry; and what better way to do it than [Jeffrey] Sachs' "shock therapy" -- a plan that empowered the degenerate, third-generation descendants of the original [[Bolshevik]]s by assigning them the deeds of Russia's mightiest state-owned industries -- including the giant gas, oil, electrical, and telecommunications industries, the world's largest paper, iron, and steel factories, the world's richest gold, silver, diamond, and platinum mines, automobile and airplane factories, etc. -- who, in turn, sold some of their shares of the properties to Westerners for a song, and pocketed the cash, while retaining control of the companies. | + | As the 1990s progressed, Western [[capital]] and corporate raiders flooded into Russia to buy up Soviet assets at bargain basement prices. Prior to the collapse, Soviet enterprises did not operate on the profit motive and received government subsidies, keeping outmoded factories and industries alive while operating at a loss to keep workers employed. When the subsidies and transfers of wealth perished with the Soviet government, the country fell into a deep recession. People were not very enamored with the transition to capitalism as foreign investors took control of the nation's economy.<ref>In a review of ''New York Times'' reporter Anne Williamson's book, ''Contagion: The Betrayal of Liberty -- Russia and the United States in the 1990s'', Paul Likoudis writes: "According to the [[socialist]] theoreticians at [[Harvard]], Russia needed to be brought into the [[New World Order]] in a hurry; and what better way to do it than [[Jefrey Sachs|[Jeffrey] Sachs']] "shock therapy" -- a plan that empowered the degenerate, third-generation descendants of the original [[Bolshevik]]s by assigning them the deeds of Russia's mightiest state-owned industries -- including the giant gas, oil, electrical, and telecommunications industries, the world's largest paper, iron, and steel factories, the world's richest gold, silver, diamond, and platinum mines, automobile and airplane factories, etc. -- who, in turn, sold some of their shares of the properties to Westerners for a song, and pocketed the cash, while retaining control of the companies. |
| | These third-generation Bolsheviks -- led by former [[Pravda]] hack Yegor Gaidar, grandson of a Bolshevik who achieved prominence as the [[Young mass murders|teenage mass murderer]] of [[White Army]] officers, now heads the Moscow-based Institute for Economies in Transition -- became instant millionaires (or billionaires) and left the Russian workers virtual slaves of them and their new foreign investors."<br>[https://www.blacklistednews.com/HOW_CLINTON_AND_COMPANY_AND_THE_BANKERS_PLUNDERED_RUSSIA_IN_THE_%2790S/48111/0/38/38/Y/M.html HOW CLINTON AND COMPANY AND THE BANKERS PLUNDERED RUSSIA IN THE '90s], Paul Likoudis, January 2, 2016</ref> As in the Dresden incident, Putin's reputation of instinctively standing up to foreign intruders in defense of his country propelled his political rise. | | These third-generation Bolsheviks -- led by former [[Pravda]] hack Yegor Gaidar, grandson of a Bolshevik who achieved prominence as the [[Young mass murders|teenage mass murderer]] of [[White Army]] officers, now heads the Moscow-based Institute for Economies in Transition -- became instant millionaires (or billionaires) and left the Russian workers virtual slaves of them and their new foreign investors."<br>[https://www.blacklistednews.com/HOW_CLINTON_AND_COMPANY_AND_THE_BANKERS_PLUNDERED_RUSSIA_IN_THE_%2790S/48111/0/38/38/Y/M.html HOW CLINTON AND COMPANY AND THE BANKERS PLUNDERED RUSSIA IN THE '90s], Paul Likoudis, January 2, 2016</ref> As in the Dresden incident, Putin's reputation of instinctively standing up to foreign intruders in defense of his country propelled his political rise. |