Mark Jones:
> The 'surprise' evinced by allegedly well-informed persons like deLong,
> Krugman and the US govt at what was entirely obvious to everyone else no
> doubt springs from an unwillingness to acknowledge the moral (and criminal)
> responsibility of the West for encouraging the plunderers to plunder,for
> sanctioning it, dressing it up with a fine halo of 'reformist' good intent,
> and for turning a blind eye on the genocidal destruction of a nation. ...
Even if you acknowledge it, it doesn't explain the grab-and-run behavior. In England, America, and elsewhere, the nascent bourgeoisie grabbed and held on, so that they could grab some more. In Russia, they've simply sent all the money to Switzerland and the U.S., virtually guaranteeing the collapse of their regime. Their lack of confidence in criminality as a long-term practice may actually bespeak a more acute moral sensitivity; you don't see that sort of thing over here!
Gordon