An Ignored US Diplomat’s Warning on Russia

In an interview with Natylie Baldwin, E. Wayne Merry reflects on his 1994 State Department telegram concerning Western relations with post-Soviet Russia.

The National Security Archive recently published a 1994 memo by E. Wayne Merry, a U.S. diplomat in Moscow who provided an on-the-ground assessment of U.S. policies toward a Russia that was in chaos.

In his memo — sent by telegram — Merry criticized the U.S. tendency to prioritize experimental shock therapy rather than laying the foundation for the rule of law.

He also said that Russia’s historical and cultural experience was not conducive to the same lionization of unfettered free markets that Americans had.

The memo represented a different view of how the U.S.-led West could have managed its relationship with and guided reforms in post-Soviet Russia — a view that unfortunately was not followed.

[consortiumnews.com]

I was asked by a member to post this article. Fearing it wouldn't go through for him. He seems to have issues lately with getting his post and replies through here. Just this morning I have a mixture of multiple replies and post of his in my notifications that lead me astray from being able to view them. He however didn't notify me if he wanted his name attached to it. He's of course more than welcome to expose himself in the comments.

Anyways. I told him I would do so after I analyze it. I did a quick scan of it yesterday when I got his note to mentally prepare for it. It's a topic I know fairly well considering I have researched it, and on a number of occasions spoken of the context within on this era within direct post on the topic, or having included variations of its context in other post as leading correlated information. I quickly recognized where I'd be going. I'm not just going to post an article without confirming it fits the groups agenda, and not add my view points of facts and conjecture, however. I'll do this for anyone also. Fair warning, I'm not shy about tearing apart anything that comes for a MSM and warning of discontinued following of with reasons.

However you may proceed to view how I do things here. Read the article first, then my commentary, or vice versa. Or don't read any of the article to be fully able to provide intellectual comments. I get a ton of that shit. These people are relatively, easily, exposed often. It's fairly easy when someone simply attacks me, which indicates they aren't using any of the articles context or narrative to provide a genuine debate to combat the information within. Almost always echoing manufactured MSM talking points. Attempting to change the narrative and context within to fit those illusions. I also tend to get ahead of the article with my conjecture. Which might be the case here as I read through it. Being I already know the conditions the discussion is likely based on. Anyways. Here we go.

{Wayne Merry: From August 1991, I was chief of the Political/Internal section of the U.S. embassy in Moscow, in charge of reporting and analysis on political developments in the late Soviet Union and then Russia. I had worked in this section a decade earlier and was very familiar with the role.

Given the historic events underway from 1991 through 1994, it was a central part of my job to attempt to explain these events to a Washington readership and especially to challenge misperceptions in Washington about Russia through the advantage of being on the ground.}

This serves as a good template for the discussion, right out of the gate. For anyone who has a factual sense of knowledge of this time period of the USSR as it dissolved into a Russia, and at first that's exactly what happened, dissolved, the take over of Russia by the international ruling elite really didn't have a chance in hell of being a fully successful one. Like their successful accomplishments on a global scale. Despite what you may have been manipulated into believing about the USSR, it wasn't just going to be a population gathering into an uprise against its government and welcome in the theft of its representation and resources. The citizenship knew fully well what the agenda of the ruling elite was going to be. So did Putin. Lets see if that comes up before I get ahead of myself. Fuck! I already did! Sorry.

{Baldwin: One of several themes in the assessment was the U.S.com/West’s insistence on implementing exploitative neoliberal economic policies on Russia in that era that were leading to a lot of destabilization and major social problems. These policies were understandably unpopular among most Russians.

Merry: It was not difficult in-country to see that the macro-economic stabilization policies which had been fairly successful in Poland were not so in Russia and that more maturity of post-Soviet Russia’s political institutions was essential to permit a non-criminalized development of a market economy.

There was considerable debate on the American side, in Washington and in Moscow, as to which should have priority — market economics or rule of law. As someone with years of in-country experience of Russia, I felt strongly that political and legal reforms should take priority.}

In other words. The boot went straight to the throat. They wanted it all now. They thought they had the political arena fix in. Before their Russian collaborator was released. While the economic side was exposing the real agenda. What they though his successor would also follow through on.

At this point I'm going to just leave the article for you to read after I inject what I have come to learn. Let you fill in your own blanks. I'll be more interested to see your comments that way.

I'm leaving with a bit of a slight disagreement on the USSR statements. I see a completely different scenario in those statements based on my opinion of why the USSR perception is managed as he states. Which correlates with the treatment they have been drowning in for centuries. Especially after WWll. The USSR and the following Russian era has always been under attack. And the atmosphere of these attacks from multiple fronts from the outside created the manufactured conditions they always struggled within. It's to easy for these conditions to arise in a nation under such, and then falsely have negative perceptions managed about them.

And I see Merry as brilliantly having to wanted to attempt to deliver an agenda of another deceptive means to fool a nation. In other words. He basically recognized the same background many historians seen, relative to mine, and was suggesting a more cynical means towards capturing Russia for the long run. Knowing if they went for the throat to quickly, it would die quickly.

In a nut shell from my world. I'll try to be quick. The USSR wasn't as bad as it was projected. I personally think of Lenin as having betrayed the 1917 revolution and Trotsky. Later, shortly before his death, he admitted he should have listened more to Trotsky. The world wars left the USSR in horrible economic conditions, combined with constant interference from the west that exacerbated their struggles. Exacerbated conflictive unrest around and within. Also exacerbated by the west. There's a LOT of history within all this to go into. Much involving the Ukraine issue today. And quite frankly our own political arena.

Come to an era the communist--socialist movement ends. Yeltsin comes in and collaborates with the US. Clinton is president and they collaborate to sell the country out. Yeltsin finds himself with horrible numbers during a reelection cycle. Clinton illegally puts something like 3 billion into Yeltsin's coffer. Honestly, that off memory, but I think it was 3 billion. Yeltsin facing mass protest, calls in the army and something like over 300 protesters are killed. You get the picture? Putin is in the background being prepped to be Yeltsin's predecessor. Only problem now is that Putin isn't having any of it. And it takes 10 years for him the reverse the negative effects of what Gorbachev and Yeltsin created on an economic front.

The last of the USSR population as the "cold war" was ending never were all that faltering from the past. They actually found it humorous and bewildering to how the US population was so indoctrinated into a false reality of their nation. Still do. Quite frankly, many should all be ashamed of how we view the rest of the world. Especially Russia today. A good, long, genuine, education on the last 100 years alone is greatly needed in our society. Especially on the USSR and Russia. Even more so on the multiple aspects of the history of Ukraine.

More on this

The prophet Cassandra’s curse was that when she told the future, no one listened. Many are cursed because they don’t listen to history either.

[consortiumnews.com]