FOR THE RECORD: Two views of Russia (11/05/00)

FOR THE RECORD: Two views of Russia

Excerpts from a lecture by Condoleezza Rice, chief foreign policy advisor to George W. Bush, at a Wilson Center Director's Forum on April 27.

... Russia [is] a declining power, trying to find its identity, and a country that has managed to take concepts of the market, private capital and privatization, and mutate them into something else. We in the United States, unfortunately, certified that there were reformers doing some of this when in fact it turns out that some of these "reformers" were actually stealing the country blind. This is a problem for us. You have to tell the truth about these places because capital will sniff it out, capital will know. And right now investment in Russia shows that capital understands the true picture in Russia. It is up to the Russians to figure out how to get a tax code that does not tax small business at 120 percent of income if you pay all of their overlapping taxes. We can't fix that problem, the Russians can ...

Excerpts from a lecture given by Leon Fuerth, national security aAdvisor to Vice-President Al Gore, at a Woodrow Wilson Center Director's Forum on July 25.

... Overall, as we look back on the result of our Russia policy, what we see is an extensive record of accomplishment: Americans are measurably safer today than they were eight years ago. ... Democracy is now the accustomed norm in Russia. ... Tens of thousands of state-owned enterprises have been privatized and more than 900,000 small businesses have been established, contributing to Russia's recent economic rebound. ... All mainstream parties now espouse democracy and free market reform. ... Russia is increasingly enmeshed in the international community. ...

- from the "Meeting Report" (November) of the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies.

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