>We agree that *both* Yeltsin and Putin are venal elites... but if Yeltsin
>defaulted even simply due to financial repayment problems, that still was a
>useful stance, had it persuaded other countries' elites to give it a try.
>'Provincial'? The Jubilee South activists I learn from are amongst the most
>serious internationalists writing anywhere.
Provincial in the sense that it's pretty odd to take Yeltsin as a model, since he ran a horribly corrupt government that drove Russia into the dirt. It sounds like single-issue politics: great default! Oh yeah, there's the little matter of impoverishing 100 million Russians and running one of the greatest property theft rings of all time.
And why aren't you more interested in Putin's nationalization of Yukos as a developmental model? A state whose power had been drained by neoliberalism recovers significant amounts of its power and reverses a disastrous privatization. If you're willing to learn from Rhodesia and apartheid SA, why not Putin's Russia?
Doug