Something to think about ... Trump is replicating Yeltsin

[UpInArms]

Yeltsin basically privatized Russia ... selling state assets to the oligarchs...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privatization_in_Russia

"[T]he reforms of the 1990s were mainly the work of the advisers brought in under then president Boris Yeltsin. Fearing that the population might soon have a change of heart and turn its back on reform, Yegor Gaidar and Anatoly Chubais, the chief Russian architects of the process, decided to accelerate it, selling off state resources and enterprises at little or no charge. Not long into the process, ownership of some of Russia's most valuable resources was auctioned off by oligarch-owned banks under a scheme called "Loans for Shares." Although they were supposedly acting on behalf of the state, the bank auctioneers rigged the process-and in almost every case ended up as the successful bidders. This was how Khodorkovsky got a 78 percent share of ownership in Yukos, worth about $5 billion, for a mere $310 million, and how Boris Berezovsky got Sibneft, another oil giant, worth $3 billion, for about $100 million. [...] [T]he government was generally unable to exercise much control. Since the state was very weak, these "new Russians" paid little or no taxes on their purchases."
- Marshall Goldman, Professor of economics and associate director of Russian Studies at Harvard.[18]

[Kirk Lover]

1. He shan't get away with this. But excellent post.

[Hortensis]

2. Say "Trump" but think "dark money billionaires."

The Republican Party leadership haven't been committing mass suicide this past year, in DC and also many state capitals, because they wanted to.

[Wounded Bear]

3. This has been the playbook for years and years...

as delineated in Naomi Klein's Shock Doctine. It's been happening all around the world, and its been happening here, although a bit more surreptitiously before Trump. Trump really energized the movement and we have some real battles ahead.

[c-rational]

4. Didn't daddy Bush play a part in this by reneging on a deal to aid Russia in their transition and

instead aid in shock doctrine.

[UpInArms]

5. Poppy Bush did it with the savings and loans

In the eighties ... was a travesty

[Louis1895]

6. Do we need new terminology?

The Yeltsinification of America?

The Oligoarchification of America?

The Putinification of America?

I do not think the "Trumpification of America" would fit because it does not convey the Russian connection.

[lostnfound]

8. Its the Shock Doctrine, with Russian salad dressing.

A few billionaires and ideologues have been salivating.

[poboy2]

7. Nah. Yeltsin was a drunk that got rolled. Agent Orange is actively engaged in it. -nt

[Louis1895]

9. Yeah, but Yeltsin let Putin in the door...(n/t)

[poboy2]

10. The active participation vs. being drunk and taken advantage of makes all the difference

when making comparisons. Criminal vs. dereliction, so there is no comparison at all.

[uponit7771]

11. K&R, I've always thought the Russians blamed the US for Yeltsin and wanted payback