Mikhail Gorbachev was a visionary leader. The refusal of the U.S. to help Russia when the Soviet Union collapsed was typical of America's arrogance and lack of visionary foreign policy. If we had helped Gorbachev then, Russia's path would probably have not been toward a Putin.

I am Russian. I hate what the country has become. But the notion that the US somehow failed to help is a fantasy. If Americans gave us more money it would just go towards oligarch yachts.