A few agitated commenters have once again begun denouncing Prof. Jeffrey Sachs for allegedly being responsible for the Western looting of Russia during the 1990s.
Frankly, a decade or two ago I’d vaguely had the same opinion since I’d always seen him described in the newspapers as one of the key economic advisors to the Russian government of that period and had read some article somewhere making that claim. But I’d never explored this matter and over the last couple of years I’ve become convinced that my impression was entirely mistaken.
Therefore, I’d urge that people read Sachs’ article providing his version of the history, very similar to what he’d said in his 2005 book, which I’d read earlier this year. I’d also strongly suggest that people watch his detailed interview, which he apparently arranged after Taibbi and the other hosts had casually made that same mistaken accusation in a previous show.
Over the last couple of years I’ve watched a number of his interviews in which he discussed these matters, and all I can say is that he’s either being honest or he’s about the best liar in the history of the human species.
As far as I can tell, the only reason people believe Sachs was responsible was one 1998 article published in the Nation plus portions of Naomi Klein’s 2007 book. Mistaken ideas sometimes get into circulation and are then repeated back and forth so many times that everyone assumes they’re correct. But I’ve carefully read those two sources and I found Sachs’ account much more persuasive.
More importantly, President Putin and the top Russian leaders have denounced the 1990s policies as one of the greatest economic disasters of the 20th century and have been scathing in their denunciations of the American advisors who they blamed for the looting of their country and the total impoverishment of the Russian population. However, they’ve never included Sachs in that category, and instead they have always treated him with respect and friendship.
I think that Putin and his leadership team have a much better idea of what really happened during the 1990s than any of us do, and the identities of the heroes and the villains. So I trust Putin’s judgment on such things.
This issue has major importance because of Sachs’ current status as one of the foremost critics of American policies. Indeed, in my articles I’ve made that point that Sachs has probably now become the highest-ranking American ideological defector of the last one hundred years, or at least no other obvious names come to mind:
I have been extremely suspicious of Sachs and avoided posting any of his material on this site. I am willing to consider Ron’s argument but also can’t not notice, once again, it’s one Jew defending another. ‘The best way to control the opposition is to lead them’. If you click on the link to Ron’s comments and read some other comments, you will get a fuller picture of this issue. I, for one, remember the rape of Russia and that Sachs was a prominent exponent of economic ‘shock therapy’ not only in Russia but also South America, if memory serves. I may be wrong and am willing to change my view of Sachs but am not eager to do so. Below is a recent video of Sachs commenting on Ukraine. In that video, he blames everything on ‘USA’ when the reality appears to be different and rife with his tribe always at or near the top. So, I dunno. Best to be suspicious, yet at the same time ready to forgive anyone who honestly repents and changes their ways. Of course, Sachs is claiming he never was doing bad things in Russia and Ron’s use of Putin’s non-criticism of Sachs is illuminating, but there are surely many dark wrinkles inside of that. A non-confession, non-repentance, I-was-always-right-and-good argument might be true, but consider the sources. ABN
American Buddhist Net 