Tom Lehman wrote:
> Dear Brad,
>
> I don't think it's a question of gross numbers involved or dollars spent. I
> think it's a question of seeing that the dollars get to the people who can do the
> most good with them for the most people.
>
Precisely, Tom
>
> My grandparents had neighbors named Mike and Mary who were from olde Russia. One
> day Mike and some of the neighbors were talking politics. A fellow named Newton
> who was one of the better educated Americans in the conversation accused Mike of
> being a Bolshevik. Mike was crestfallen and he went home and told Mary what had
> happened. This made Mary very mad. The next time she saw Newt, she gave him
> hell. Mary told Newt, "they called Mike a Bolshevik in the old country, that's why
> we had to come here!"
>
> I don't think speaking Russian would help; thinking Russian would.
>
Good point. To help Russia, one has to be Russian. Only the Russians can solve their own problems. Russian Americans, if they want to help, can do so only if they return to Russia for long periods, if not forever, and become Russians again. Just going there as a Russian speaking visiting expert will only cause harm.
There are plenty of intelligent and creative thinkers in Russia today. What they don' have is money.
Americans have a tendency to confuse wealth with intelligence. In traditional Chinese culture, commerce has a lower social ranking than prostitution.
If America wants to help out of self interest to prevent instability, give money directly to the Russian people and keep the Harvard experts at home or put them in jail where some of them belong. The truth is, all the country experts in US government are dangerous idiots, Quiet Americans, the Graham Green variety.
Henry