Economic-union Books

Garry Kasparov explains his title early on. When asked how life actually imitates chess, his answer is immediate: "It doesn't."

Ignore the subtitle, too. That's simply a marketing ploy.

This book fits more comfortably on the shelf beside Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" in its focus on competition. The experience, derived from Kasparov's two decades as chess champion, will teach about the subtle psychology of reaching and performing at a peak level.

My favorite nuances include:

The idea that "talent" is actually a combination of traits. He gives the example that a great pianist must have dexterity, passion and a sharp ear. What is called talent is the composite of many things.

The idea that performance is reality. People seem to get caught up in the backstory of a success. One chess player is considered inferior because he works more than another chess player who practices less to attain the same skill level. The latter will be considered more talented, but Kasparov says it is all non-sense. Why not, he argues, consider the ability to work hard a talent too? At the end of the day, whoever plays better is better; performance is reality.

The idea that, to achieve our potential, we must understand the mechanism behind how we make our decisions. Kasparov, for example, could not become a better chess player until he recognized that he had a naturally aggressive temperament that made his play predictable to a clever and more patient opponent. He recognized that he had to change his style at times, even if it felt less pleasurable to win in such a way.

An excellent book! He excellently explains many of the lessons he was able to draw throughout his life from his experiences to how it made him grow as an individual and a champion. It is great to see such words of wisdom so simply passed on in a short book for all who would venture to read it. However, some reserves must be passed onto the would-be reader. Without a doubt, you are getting more value from this book than the money you will spend and the time used to read it. However, it is sometimes light on the details both of Kasparov's own career and of the political/historical examples he sights. He himself quotes the "devil is in the details" then proceeds to not even provide remote details as footnotes or otherwise for our reader! Sometimes, it is not clear if his audience is chess or non chess folk. For the chess folk, it isn't nearly detailed enough as most people were by now quite familiar with his view on most of the touched events. For the non chess folk, I can see the presentation and wording being rather unclear and hard to follow. If you spend enough time in the well written glossary, any one should be fine. It is great to hear a champion has learned from this mighty game the same beautiful principles I have taken away from it myself. I wish that the quotes he used to start the earlier chapters had been consistently done throughout the whole book (as later chapters have no quotes). I also think the book could have stood to have another round of editing. There are some terrible grammar, spelling and syntax errors throughout though they don't detract from the message of the book. Also again more details would be appreciated both from the authors own experiences and the parallel examples he draws. Finally, one would like to hear more of his family life through all these issues - he makes a few remarks of father, mother, wife and son but nothing substantial in how he has tried to pass on his advice as a father.How Life Imitates Chess: Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom

For those of us who grew up playing chess in the 1980s, Kasparov was a superhero. Hence I couldn't resist buying this book. I found it very inspiring and thoughtful. It has many insights taken from Kasparov's own personal life and chess games, about what it takes to succeed. I learned a lot and am revising the way I think and make decisions.

Part motivational pep talk, part memoir, and part chess instruction, How Life Imitates Chess shares insights accumulated through a lifetime on professional chess's world stage by the most accomplished player the game has ever known. Self-awareness is the main message, and Kasparov has a gift for making the steps to achieving it plain, if not easy. His points are well-illustrated by anecdotes from his chess and political careers as well as historic examples from the worlds of business, politics, sports, art, science, and warfare.

Being a chess nerd is not a prerequisite, though it helps, and if your goal is to become a chess nerd, this isn't a bad place to start.

you can see how someone climb the life mountain,and still there is enough to go,how we can learn from the past and correct the way during the life,to not be dogmatist.

Impeccably researched, well-referenced, and very convincing. This book will convince the shrewdest skeptics. It focuses on high-impact habits, and doesn't harp on the little tiny details that don't make a big difference. A fantastic book; true to its title!

This was purchased as a gift for someone who is very interested in the health of our environment. It is a good book for those who share that interest.

This short and practical guide tells us how we can make a difference in protecting our environment...and also tells us what behaviors do not.

It sheds a lot of insight on the topic, while also dispelling lots of myths concerning different options and choices available to today's consumer (paper or plastic?, cloth or disposable?, etc., etc.)

The goals of this book are admirable, but the authors (on behalf of the Union of Concerned Scientists) fail to deliver a truly practical message. Brower and Leon constructed a pretty impressive quantitative methodology to measure the true environmental impacts of a wide variety of consumer activities. But while the numbers are impressive, the authors transformed them into confusing and contradictory recommendations for the concerned citizen. The authors certainly found that some consumer behaviors that seem to be harmful to the environment, such as buying the occasional over-packaged grocery item, are not worth worrying about so much (taken individually) when you crunch the numbers. This is the authors' overall message - look at the numbers to determine which consumer behaviors actually harm the environment the most, and which can be worried about a little less by the conscientious citizen. But the problem is that the recommendations lose their focus and bleed into a very inconsistent message for the reader.

Regardless of whether the one Styrofoam cup I use today has a quantitatively small impact on the environment, I'm not buying the authors' contention that I shouldn't worry because it's just one cup amongst billions of tons of waste produced by business and industry. Maybe so, but things add up, and if many people care a little, then even the authors' quantitative methods would detect the long-term benefits. This book is docked an additional star for the epilogue about the history of American consumerism (written by a third author), which is fairly interesting but reads like the literature review for a graduate student thesis. This epilogue is filler at best and not consistent with the general themes of the rest of the book. On the good side, the extensive bibliography, though outdated, offers a plethora of books and websites that would probably tackle the matter of environmental consumerism better than this book does. [~doomssdayer520~]

I do agree that it is often important to look at the bigger picture of things. This book helps the reader to focus on the big contributors of environmental damage. However, I disagree on number of things that the the authors claim that people should not be highly concerned about.

The first one is "...by remembering the small weight of many consumer products, you can reduce your guilt and anxiety levels dramatically. Light non-toxic products, such as plastic trash bags, paper napkins, and leather wallets, do not deserve to be high priorities for environmental concern." (pg. 126) If plastic bags are not of high environmental concern, then why do countries like Ireland, Taiwan, and some cities in the US either outright ban or tax the use of plastic bags at grocery and convenience stores? Is it because of the excessive use of these petroleum-based goods (the US alone uses 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually) is creating a problem in landfills, our cities and the ocean?

I also love they way they make us feel so smug about using spray cans, stating that "Most spray cans currently rely on hydrocarbons such as methane, ethane, propane, cyclopropane, butane, and cyclopentane. They do not contribute to ozone depletion, have low toxicity, and have relatively LITTLE impact on global warming given the small quantities in a spray can. You should not feel embarrassed or guilty to SPRAY AWAY." (pg. 135) Please Wikipedia some of the gases mentioned above and perhaps you'll read about it's greenhouse gas effects and toxicity levels.

On page 133 they write "The throwaway drinking cup has become a powerful symbol of America's wasteful, polluting society. Nevertheless, it is not a major sin against the environment to use an occasional paper or plastic cup....of course, you don't want to be wasteful, but a few dozen, or even a COUPLE HUNDRED, disposable cups a year will have relatively little environmental impact." Let's see, a couple hundred cups a year multiplied by 300 million Americans = a HUGE impact to the environment, especially when there are things we can do to not rely so much on disposables like carry your own mug to Starbucks!!!

These are just a few of a number of outrageous claims from the Union of Concerned Scientists that are presented in this book. I don't think this book is entirely worthless. But please use some common sense when taking in their advice.

On 3rd Dec 1984, over 30,000 people of Bhopal died through cyanide poisoning from the nearby Union Carbide plant. More than 500,000 were seriously injured. Dominique Lapierre's book attempts to provide the inside story on this disaster as well as to provide the point-of-view of those who were most affected, the poor victims. Lapierre attempts to explore the motivations and actions of all parties involved including Union Carbide's management, the victims, the Indian government and the Americans. Actually, this book is a tribute to all those victims who have not received justice in spite of many tall claims that they would. Having read "City of Joy" which made me cringe when I read about the open sewers of Calcutta slums, Lapierre's work on Bhopal makes me feel that this author is a true friend of the downtrodden.

A great and interesting read .. Beautiful coverage and master story telling

When a cruise missile destroys a target, there is a certain level of responsibility on Raytheon, the manufacturer. That type of corporate complicity though, is subservient to the lion's share of the blame which would go to the government that uses the cruise missile. In the case of Union Carbide, no such opportunities to share the blame exist. The deaths of up to 30,000 people lie directly at the door of the company as has been made clear in several books, Five Past Midnight in Bhopal being the most recent.

It is unfortunate that the massacre perpetrated in Bhopal is given only a marginal telling here. The story is fairly compelling and it does have a creeping sense of doom as ones reads it. Often times though, the authors drop into cliché and melodrama. Many of the people in the book are revealed as one-dimensional, polarizing the guilty and innocent. If the victims of the crime were thugs of some sort, their characters should remain irrelevant. The same should go for those who are largely decent people, painting them as angelic does nothing to further the quest for justice against Union Carbide (since absorbed by Rhône-Poulenc and Dow Chemical). It's merely an attempt to tug at the heartstrings of the reader, of whom only the most imbecilic or callous would fail to identify with the victim and convict the perpetrator. That is not to say that the authors should not have tried to give the victims names and personalities, only that the way it is done here is often times unbearable. When it does come through though, it's effective. Drawing a depth of character that allows the reader to focus on what exactly the cost is going to be to these people, one can feel a bit of personal loss with the victims. The other main flaw that comes to mind is one that might have been identified by one of the blurbs on the back cover. In the book A Perfect Storm, Sebastian Junger gives thoughts, actions and motives (even dialogue) to people after all communication from them had been cut off. This was done despite the fact there is absolutely zero reason to think that any of it happened or that the characters were even alive at that point. Passing such tripe off as nonfiction is repulsive. When there is some evidence that might help recreate the last moments of people, as in Bhopal where the bodies of the killed were available at the time, there can be a limited amount of reasonable supposition. In the case of Five Past Midnight in Bhopal, this reviewer thinks the authors stretched a bit beyond reasonable credulity. Nevertheless, when all is said and done, the authors have recounted a piece of history and found to put the blame where most others have as well. Perhaps the melodrama and angel-raising could have been cut a bit to provide a better glimpse about the struggle for justice in the time since the mass-killing but that decision belongs to the authors, not to me.

Reliable estimates put the total number of fatalities from the gassing of Bhopal higher than the number of Kurds gassed at Halabja by Saddam Hussein in one of his more famous crimes. The mens rea is clear for both crimes, one through direct malice, and one through reckless behavior that reasonable people could expect to lead to death. This is well established using Union Carbide's own materials. The safety reports convict the company on their own yet, justice is conspicuously absent to the people of Bhopal, with the complicity of the American government and the offensive lack or personal responsibility on the part of the Warren Anderson and the others chiefs of Union Carbide. Five Past Midnight in Bhopal gives a good account of the events and the behavior that lead up to the worst industrial catastrophe in history, it unfortunately does so with marginal storytelling ability and prose.

Five Past Midnight in Bhopal: The Epic Story of the World's Deadliest Industrial Disaster, Dominique Lapierre and Javier Moro - The gas leak in Bhopal in the winter of 1984 claimed 3,787 lives. That's the official count; unofficial estimates range from 20,000 dead and half a million suffering from the after-effects of inhaling a noxious gas. Why did the tragedy happen? Simple: greed. Union Carbide, in a zeal to supply more pesticide than could be used in the subcontinent, built a plant to produce the pesticide locally. When the Indian droughts and distribution problems conspired to reduce their revenues, UC did what any western corporation does with pride: reduce costs. In this case, costs were reduced by allowing the safety systems of the plant to atrophy. The air-conditioner which should have maintained a regulating temprature was shut down; the flare which would normally have burned off the excess gas was extinguished; the pipes which would have shunted the execss gas to other tanks were left to rust; the employees who should be monitoring the saftey functions of the plant were let go. After all, UC thought, a plant that was not producing any pesticide could not turn into an environment disaster. They were wrong.
Due to a series of unfortunate occurences, gas pressure built up in the tanks causing it to escape, with deadly results. Since UC had not seen fit to provide information on the composition of the gas (Methyl isocynate, or MIC) to the local government, no effective antidote could be used by the hospitals when affected people started to arrive. By the morning of December 3, 1984, thousands were dead.
The name Bhopal is synonymous with the disaster that occurred there 20 years ago. To this date, no criminal proceedings have been held to hold UC responsible (UC was bought out by Dow Chemicals in 2000, and no longer exists as an independent company; Dow absolves all responsibility of the disaster). UC settled with the Indian government on a sum of US $470 million. After 20 years, about US $300 million are still with the Indian government awaiting disbursements to people who are no longer alive, or even if they are alive, are dying a slow and painful death. The Indian government, maybe out of inertia, or maybe out of the mistaken belief that future multi-nationals may not invest in India if UC is charged with criminal neglect, has not done anything to prosecute UC. UC, for its part, blames the accident on a disgruntled employee! The CEO of UC, Warren Anderson, lives in anonymity in the US; he is a wanted person in India. Thousands of lives have been lost and millions affected, all brushed aside by a UC statement that distills these enormous losses to a "per share loss of 0.43 cents!"
This is a great book, written in the same style that Dominique Lapierre uses for "Freedom At Midnight". 2/3 of the book is devoted to glimpses in the lives of the people who were the hardest hit by the gas leak; the remaining 1/3 is devoted to the actual leak. This book should be a must read for all multi-nationals that espouse to exploit the cheap third world labor market. It is a telling fact that when smaller amounts of gas leaks in UC plants occurred in the US, one of the affected women went to college to get a degree in environment issues and armed with it, battled UC in the courts (and prevailed). The affected people in Bhopal did not have such a chance, nor can they even comprehend this as a way of battling corporations. India has a long way to go before it considers itself a first world country. For more information, see Union Carbide's official site on the Bhopal Disaster (http://www.bhopal.com), and a non- government organization site (http://www.bhopal.org), which to me is far more believable than UC's site.

Rarely I start a book and can not put it down until the very last page. Being a avid reader of various topics for many years, Five Past Midnight at Bhopal was one such book, that made me stay till two in the morning, unable to put it down.
I faintly remember the incident at Bhopal, having been fairly young at the time to take in all the details, or appreciate the human tragedy that has occured, so I did not hesitate to buy this book as soon as it was published, being previously unfamilair with the works of Lapierre and Moro.
What makes this book so powerful is its unflinching humanity. Some of the thousands of victims that died that night, suddenly were alive with a history, and the authors with obvious sympathy, transform wretched, destitute, outcast people into heroes..their lives, joys, aspirations, optimism in the face of impossible odds is a wonderful triumph of the human spirit, regardless of how many gods it worships.
The moment when one of these people gets the first TV set, to the amazement of all the slum dwellers, is very touching and powerful..When the wedding preparations are made, and the joy of the parents borrowing money from a usurer to make it the most beautiful day of their daughter's life, is full of dignity..In short, the authors succeed on one level, to pay hommage to people that are forgotten in their own country and certainly in the world.
Yet the whole book is about the tragedy of the factory, and although I believe that the incident was partly caused by the cost cutting of Union Carbide,partly because of the inefficiency, and lack of training of the employees..(I did not join the authors in their apparent anti globalization undertones), the effect and devastation was mind boggling.
Yet why this book works beautifully, is simply because the authors have presented us with the lives of many characters, and when the tragedy strikes, we care enough about these people to turn every page in anticipation to know their fate.
It also reads like a thriller, escalating tension up until the fateful moment..
I did not finish the book accusing anyone, it is a tragic accident, rather I had a great feeling about how great the human spirit can be, the notion of selfless sacrifice coming alive.
If anything, I think the proceeds of this book will help some of the victims, which will make it an essential buy.

_Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution_, first published in 1974 and republished here by Buccaneer Books in 1993, by noted economist and researcher Antony C. Sutton is an astounding tale of the involvement of Wall Street bankers in the Bolshevik Revolution. Antony C. Sutton (1925 - 2002) was a British born economist and conspiracy researcher who worked for a time at the Hoover Institute. His works attempt to show the involvement of certain individuals within the United States in aiding the rise of the Soviet Union. This book is the first of a trilogy focusing on Wall Street and its involvement in the Bolshevik Revolution, the New Deal, and Hitler's Germany. As Sutton explains in his Preface, the common notion that finance capitalism is fiercely opposed to Marxian Communism is entirely fallacious. Sutton maintains that this view of capitalism and Communism as two opposing forces which was first put forth by Karl Marx himself does not stand up to critique. In fact, it can be seen that finance capitalists and international bankers took an active part in furthering the Bolshevik Revolution in their quest for unlimited profits and their desire to tap into Russia's new markets. Further, as Sutton explains the quest for monopoly can be seen manifested in the realization of socialism in which all competition is stifled and a single monolithic state controls the means of production. Sutton dedicates his book to the "unknown Russian libertarians", the Greens, who in 1919 fought against both the Reds and the Whites. This book documents the role of Wall Street capitalists in financing the Bolshevik Revolution and actively promoting Communism. As such, it shows the apparent mutual antagonism between finance capitalism and Marxian Communism to be based on a false notion.

This book begins with a Preface where Antony Sutton explains how since the 1920s various books and pamphlets have been put forth attempting to provide a link between "international bankers" and "Bolshevik revolutionaries". Sutton maintains that his book is based on hard evidence and will show the commonly believed notion of capitalism and Communism in opposition to be fallacious. The first chapter is entitled "The Actors on the Revolutionary Stage" and begins with some examples showing the influence of Wall Street bankers on Bolshevism. To begin with, Sutton considers a cartoon of Robert Minor in 1911 for the _St. Louis Post-Dispatch_ showing J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockfeller, Teddy Roosevelt, and other Wall Street figures shaking hands with Karl Marx. This cartoon resoundingly expresses the sentiment feared by many that Wall Street played an active role in promoting Marxian Communism. Sutton finds the usual form of the political spectrum going from extreme left to extreme right as less than useful and instead considers the possibility of placing collectivism against individual freedom. Sutton argues that collectivism is based on monopoly interests and shows how in his infamous book _Confessions of a Monopolist_, Frederick C. Howe explains how the monopolist must enter into politics to increase his control. Sutton contrasts the interpretations of the revisionists such as Gabriel Kolko and Murray Rothbard with the more traditional views of individuals like the American ambassador George Kennan who maintained a false dichotomy between Wall Street financiers and the Communists. Sutton then explains the Bolshevization of Wall Street and how Wall Street financiers sought to increase their profits through developing a centralized Soviet Communism as opposed to a centralized tsarist Russia or a decentralized free Russia. The second chapter is entitled "Trotsky Leaves New York to Complete the Revolution" and traces the role of the internationalist Leon Trotsky in furthering the Russian Revolution. Sutton asks the question of how Trotsky survived in a capitalist America in New York and finds that he survived rather well surprisingly. Trotsky lived very well indeed and drove around in a limousine despite the fact that his supposed only means of income was through a meager writer's salary that could have barely covered his rent. Sutton then dares to consider the real source of Trotsky's funds to explain this discrepancy. Sutton examines such issues as the Overman Committee which investigated German money in the United States funding Bolshevism, Woodrow Wilson issuing a passport to Trotsky, Canadian government documents on Trotsky's release, Canadian military intelligence views of Trotsky, and Trotsky's intentions and objectives. Sutton notes that Trotsky's objectives were in line with the objectives of other American elites in creating the Russian revolution. In an ironic note, Sutton examines the Stalinist show trials of the 1930s in which Trotsky's name came up. During these trials, Trotsky was claimed to be in league with foreign aggression and international fascism. Such remarks make much better sense when put into the context surrounding Trotsky and the influence of international capitalists located at Wall Street on both Trotsky and fascism. The third chapter is entitled "Lenin and German Assistance for the Bolshevik Revolution" and explains how German officers aided Lenin through Lenin's transfer to Russia in April 1917. Sutton examines the Sisson Documents which are believed to be forgeries as outlined by George Kennan but which have been argued to prove a Jewish-Bolshevik conspiracy. Sutton considers the tug-of-war in Washington by examining the influence of U.S. officials and noting the prominent role of such individuals as Woodrow Wilson and the nefarious Colonel Edward M. House. The fourth chapter is entitled "Wall Street and the World Revolution" and shows the prominence of Rockefeller and Morgan interests in furthering the goals of World Revolution. Sutton considers the fact of American bankers and Tsarist loans, Olof Aschberg (the "Bolshevik banker") in New York in 1916, the role of Olof Aschberg in the Bolshevik revolution, the role of Nya Banken and Guranty Trust joining Ruskombank, Guaranty Trust and German espionage in the United Sates from 1914 to 1917, the Guaranty Trust-Minotto-Caillaux threads noting the role of Otto Kahn in praising socialist aims to be brought about through "non-socialist means". The fifth chapter is entitled "The American Red Cross Mission in Russia - 1917" and examines the role of the American Red Cross Mission to Russia as an operational vehicle of Wall Street financiers. Sutton provides a list of those involved with this mission, examines important documents, details the American Red Cross Mission to Romania, examines the role of Colonel Thompson (who gave Bolshevists $1 million) in Kerensky's Russia, considers the role of the socialist mining promoter Raymond Robins, and examines the role of the international Red Cross and revolution. The sixth chapter is entitled "Consolidation and Export of the Revolution" and shows how consolidation led to the export of the revolution. This chapter considers the role of William Boyce Thompson in the revolution, the role of Lloyd George and the British War Cabinet, and various unofficial ambassadors to Russia including Robins, Lockhart, and Sadoul. Sutton also explains how the revolution was exported to Russia and considers the case of Jacob H. Rubin (a mysterious figure and a banker who "helped to form the Soviet Government of Odessa") and Robert Minor (the cartoonist mentioned above who was active in promoting Bolshevik propaganda). The seventh chapter is entitled "The Bolsheviks Return to New York" and considers such things as the raid on the Soviet Bureau in New York, corporate allies of the Soviet bureau, and European bankers and the Bolsheviks. The eighth chapter is entitled "120 Broadway, New York City" and shows how those financiers who helped fund the Bolsheviks were all located in or around 120 Broadway in New York City. This chapter examines the role of American International Corporation, the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States, and the role of prominent Bolshevist proponent John Reed as an "establishment revolutionary". The ninth chapter is entitled "Guaranty Trust Goes to Russia" and shows the role of Guaranty Trust in promoting the Bolshevists. This chapter considers the role of Wall Street and Professor Lomonossoff, setting the stage for the commercial exploitation of Russia (the real goal of the Wall Street bankers in hopes of attaining access to Russia's vast natural resources), the struggle between Germany and the United States for Russian business, Soviet gold and American banks, and Max May of Guaranty Trust and the Ruskombank. The tenth chapter is entitled "J. P. Morgan Gives a Little Help to the Other Side" and shows the role of J. P. Morgan in financing both Communism and anti-Communism in accordance to Hegelian doctrine (thesis-antithesis-synthesis). Sutton considers the role of United Americans (a virulently anti-Communist group founded by Morgan), and the role of Morgan and Rockefeller and Kolchak (a Russian general who opposed Bolshevism). The eleventh chapter is entitled "The Alliance of Bankers and Revolution" and examines the evidence presented for this case. Sutton quotes from Georgetown professor Carroll Quigley to show that Morgan was active in financing various far left wing groups and then provides an explanation for this "unholy alliance" of big capitalists and communists. Sutton maintains that in the quest for profits capitalists sought to tap into Russia's enormous potential even if that meant financing Bolshevists. Further, as Sutton shows by examining an argument made by Gabriel Kolko (showing that railroad owners and not farmers wanted more regulation of railroads) the goal was ultimately to obtain monopoly through socialism by ridding the world of competition. As Sutton explains, "The gigantic Russian market was to be converted into a captive market and a technical colony to be exploited by a few high-powered American financiers and the corporations under their control." Sutton also examines the Marburg plan which allowed for the socialization of the world. Sutton concludes by noting that Wall Street, the Morgan-Rockefeller complex located at 120 Broadway, sought to achieve control over Russia by going to bat for the Bolsheviks in Washington. Sutton then shows the horrors wrought by the Soviet state and the Korean and Vietnam Wars in which over 100,000 soldiers died after technology was given from the United States to finance the Soviets. In sum, Sutton concludes that the Russian revolution was betrayed as maintained by the anarchist writer Voline. The book ends with several appendices. The first appendix provides a list of names of those involved among the bankers. The second appendix considers the issue of "The Jewish Conspiracy of the Bolshevik Revolution". Sutton will argue that the Jewish conspiracy notion has been discredited, but still it must be noted that a large number of those involved in implementing the Soviet state were of Jewish ethnicity. And the third appendix provides a list of documents which prove the involvement of Wall Street bankers in financing Bolshevism.

This book provides an excellent analysis of the role of Wall Street finance capitalists in furthering the aims of Bolshevists. Sutton shows that the apparent mutual antagonism between capitalist and communist as first put forth by Karl Marx is in fact a chimera. In fact, capitalists sought to increase their profits and attain monopoly by funding the Russian Revolution which gave birth to the tyrannical Soviet state.

Communism is monopoly Capitalism. That seems to be the conclusion reached by famous, powerful US business chiefs. And where there's monopoly there's a trapped market. In the early 1900s Russia was a market ready to be exploited, rich in mineral wealth. Sutton presents his case that the Russian revolutionaries were basically puppets of American imperialism. On the first page is a cartoon from a 1911 edition of the St. Louis Post-Despatch depicting Karl Marx being congratulated by a crowd of Wall St financiers plus president Teddy Roosevelt.

The book is only just over 200 pages long so obviously it doesn't provide a full picture of the circumstances of the revolution, and there are a few factual errors, which another reviewer pointed out.

For further reading about the life of Lev Bronstein (a.k.a. Trotsky) in New York, see Danger My Ally by F.A. Mitchell-Hedges. In that book it is revealed that Bronstein knew diamond merchant Mike Meyerowitz (Hedges' employer at the time) who was based at 120 Broadway (that address is the subject of a whole chapter of Sutton's book). Apparently, in 1916, Bronstein was half-starved and had been sleeping in a doorway for 3 nights when Hedges bumped into him in November of that year. Hedges then put him up in his NY apartment for 3 weeks. At that time Bronstein had recently been sacked from his job working for a small Jewish newspaper on the East Side. After 3 weeks, Hedges returned one day to find Bronstein gone with a note left behind saying, "I must go without saying goodbye. I will not forget. Bronstein." During those 3 weeks, Hedges says that Bronstein spent his time drinking pints of coffee and writing. Later, in 1919, Hedges says he was approached by UK intelligence chief Basil Thomson to spy on Trotsky and that it was considered a matter of vital importance by the UK government: "There are a great many things we want to find out urgently," but Hedges refused. He didn't like Bronstein's cooking.

Anthony Sutton's WALL STREET AND THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION is a series of case studies of powerful U.S. executives catering to the Bolsheviks or Communists beginning in the early 1920s. Sutton cites U.S. business leaders from the budding electronics industry, oil, agriculture, etc. who worked to subsidize the Communists and literally saved the Communist Revolution which tragically ruined the Soviet people and later those of Eastern Europe and Asia.

Sutton explores a supposed Red Cross mission which was political and not humanitarian. These people helped to provide food and business connections to Lenin & co. at a critical time when the Bolsheviks faced civil war with the Whites and a Polish invasion. The fact is that without U.S. business executives both in the "private sector" and government, the Bolshevik Revolution would have failed. Lenin's only solution to the bitter protest to his revolution was the use repression and concentration camps. Readers should note that Lenin had more political executions his first year in power than all the Czars, including the tyrannical Nicholus I (1825-1855)had in the 19th. century.

One interesting anecdote is Sutton's comments of the General Electric executives bankrolling the Soviets' hydroelectric projects beginning in the 1920s. One of the largest if not the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world was/is in the old Soviet Union. This facility helped the Soviets industrialize their empire quickly even at the expense of the poor souls who had to work on it.

Sutton is clear that Wall Street executives worked tirelessly to uphold the new Soviet regime. One wonders how the Soviets ever paid for any of this largesse of technology, industry, and huge projects. The fact is, the U.S. international business executives were most likely paid via the sucker U.S. taxpayers.

One of those corporate executives who was close to Lenin was the oil tycoon, Armand Hammer. His help was indispensable to Lenin and his supporters, and Lenin had Armand Hammer's portrait in his office. The Bolsheviks and later the Stalinoids were only too glad to do business with "The Running Dogs of Yankee Capitalism."

The agrument may be posed that the Cold War is over. Sutton's book is still useful. During recent U.S. military capers in Iraq and Afghanistan, some alert folks have cited the fact that America's wicked enemies are using U.S. made weapons and technology. This is exactly what Sutton alludes to regarding the death of U.S. military personnel re the Korean and Vietnam wars. While the names of the players (the enemies) have changed, the pattern is the same. There is credible evidence that the Saudi ruling family are arming Sunni insurgents in Iraq. This is similiar to the American authorities arming, directly or indirectly, the North Koreans,the Chinese Communists, and the North Vietnamese during the Cold War. Another interesting anecdote is the fact that during the build-up to the recent Iraq and Afghan Wars, a U.S. business executive was asked about the morality of arming and supplying "the other side." His response was that he would sell to anyone as long as they could pay for it. One should note that Reagan and Bush both supported Osama Bin Laden in teh 1980s when the Afghan rebels fought agains the Soviets. Then Pres. Reagan was warned but to no avail.

Maybe Sutton's book is an exposure or Orwellain wars and political machinations. The fact the Soviet authorities continued a Cold War for so long enabled U.S. authorities to spy and persecute U.S. citizens while for being Communists while doing big business with Big Communism. Pres. Nixon made a political career attacking Communists here in the U.S. while extending diplomatic and political overtures to the Communist Chinese and the Soviets. The wicked Communists did not play fair. The worst thing happened to the Communists when peace broke out, and they did have the Yankee Imperialist Devils to fear.

Anthony's book is instructive in that the examples and case studies sound all too familiar given the continuation of war scares and shooting wars. The only difference is the change of the enemies. Anthony Sutton's book is still relavent.

This book not only streches conspiracy to the limit but it certanly distorts the Russian Revolution itself. Apperantly the American elite funded the revolution to build and control its economy, why than was there no economy to speak of after 14 different armies from 14 different capitalist countries attacked the Russian working class to strangle the revolution at its birth from fear that people in their own country would rise against them. Dear ignorant people until then the country was controled by the working class politicaly and economicaly after that Stalin took control of the state smashed its socialist qualities and built a government and economy not at all socialist but state owned capitalist and so forth rose the abomonation called Stalinism not to be mistaken with socialism. The auther is one of many who immediately assumes that communism is "bad", but if any of you were simply to pick up the book "Das Kapital" writen by Karl Marx the inventor of socialism and see what socialism is you would be stearing at a wall in dismay thinking what is all the hype about. Poeple democracy is a socialist idea hellllooo before socialism it did not exist. I do not see at all how the elite supporting the revolution was to profit since the revolution itself was about ending supression of the working class, which is really how the elite profits, and returning not only political power to the people but also giving them full control of the economy and abandoning private and government ownership the latter was brought back by Stalin.

This book fails to identify that most of the capitalist interests were Jewish and 98% of the Bolsheviks were Jewish and they overthrew the Czar after he had already abdicated.The capitalist Jews in America were interested in the riches of Russia and creating a utopia.

The first failed revolution in 1905 ended with many of the Russian Jews scrambling out of Russia into Germany.They were lucky Germany took them in.
A much better book would be

The Culture of Critique: An Evolutionary Analysis of Jewish Involvement in Twentieth-Century Intellectual and Political Movements

There is an audio on line by Mr. Benjamin Freedman.He was there!And as a liaison between the parties involved for WW1 and WW11,which is related to the Bolshevik revolution.He has quite allot to say about that era.He knew the people involved as well as 7 presidents, including Kennedy.
Google article
By Benjamin Freedman, Seven U.S. Presidents
- Masters of Deception -
Jewish Pawns
Google: Judea declares a holy war on Germany.
Nothing is ever as it seems.

What is contained in this fascinating book is a view of American history that has been deliberatly surpressed so that we American's don't realize who our real enemies are.

Since the birth of America - up to right now, the British empire has sought to eliminate our influence. We have been, historically, the only real threat to the imperial out look of using free-trade to enslave the people of the world.

It is time for us to learn our amazing true history. I would also reccomend "How the Nation was Won" by Grahm Lowrey

www.larouchepac.com

When you read this book you will join a small fraternity of folks who are armed with a fresh point of view, one far different from what is taught in America's schools and universities. The material presented comes from the public record, but here it is excavated and arranged to reveal a pattern of treachery lurking beneath the surface of familiar historical events.

The author does not know what he's talking about when it comes to religion that includes the subject of predestination, on the other subjects he is mostly right however.

Columbus discovered the americas in 1492. Twenty one years later Balboa discovered the Pacific ocean. As simplistic as these statements may seem, two facts are just as obvious. One, American history begins with these statements. Secondly these statements are only true from a European perspective. The book Treason in America: From Aaron Burr to Averell Harriman demonstrates to the reader the simple premise that American history has been written largely from a European point of view. The author explains in detail how British financial institutions, funded an American aristocracy in the early 1800's. This British-American aristocracy along with European intelligence services did what the British military could not: return America to the British-European circle of influence. In passing the book discusses some of the American presidents (a total of six by my count) that were either murdered or died under highly suspicious circumstances while in office ( a seventh president, Ronald Reagan, was semi-assassinated). During this same time span how many English, French or German heads of state have met the same fate? In this respect sitting American presidents have been treated no better than any other colonial puppet! Is this a conspiracy book? Absolutely not. This book is all about a European ruling elite that has never abandoned the feudal way of life. The enslavement of the many by the few, politically and economically, is not a new age concept. It is quite old and quite real. This book does not try to paint a broad picture. Rather it carefully examines some of the trees that make up the forest. It has been said that history is written by the winners. The author records the names of some of the people who would rather remain hidden and out of sight.

This IS a collection of articles published by Lyndon LaRouche but not authored by him. Mr Chaitkin clearly has an agenda because his father was personally involved in a lawsuit against Harriman in the 1920s attempting to stop his support of the germans illegially. And I personally am not a LaRouche fan - I question his national ecconomic policies.
However there is great merit in this book. It truely ranks as a history book and not fiction. It is backed up with numerous refernces to original works and publications. It reads farily well for something as far reaching and encompasing as it is.
This book traces the links between the oligarchical families of 17th century Europe to its effects and agents here in America. It connects dots I never knew existed. Spanning secret societies, indian wars, opium and slave traders, yellow journalistic hits, intrigues, and financial swindles, this history is a real eye openner.
I don't doubt it is biased, but the bias is clear. It clearly says in the introduction that it is associated with LaRouche and if you read it you will find why the author was motivated to write it - not for a paycheck from LaRouche.
I think this work serves a very useful purpose in informing anyone interested in history, ecconomics or political intrigue. It does deserve a few good readings. I wish most americans at least knew about this view of history.

The writers provide excellent research and history on RAVENSWOOD, detailing convincingly how workers' battled back against rapacious employers. This is a timeless book, relevant for all times. Bronfenbrenner and Juravich, as usual, provide excellent research and analysis of one of the many struggles to save the steel industry in the U.S. Bravo.

As the daughter of a 5668 lockedout employee, who was really too young to fully understand the total impact of the lockout, I looked forward to this book. It has allowed me to have a better grasp of what it was really like for my parents and all of the other Steelworkers and their families. I have come to appreciate what it is to be UNION! This book gave me some suprises that I did not anticipate (PIC!! You know who you are!!!) It also brought me to tears on a numer of occasions. I know the fear, depression, hopelessness that all of these members felt. Bless our union! You truly held "ONE DAY LONGER" than that "Boyle on your Back" and prevailed!! BTW my dad did not make it through the 1st chapter before putting it down in tears, and never picked it up again, because it hits home that hard. Truly a must for anyone involved with this dispute or anyone involved in one of their own. Congratulations 5668

True-life tale of the Steelworkers victory in Ravenswood West Virginia. I lived through this event growing up, my father one of the proud members of Local 5668. This book is an excellent read, informative and entertaining. Excellent text for US History courses. I also recommend the film "Matewan."

Ravenswood is an excellent account of the recent labor victory for the USWA in 1992. The book reads well and does a very good job of holding the reader's interest as the tale of how Local 5668 fought the infamous Marc Rich and won. The drawback of the book is that is is written by very pro labor authors and the view point and opinion portrayed throughout is very slanted in the union's favor. Unbiased opinion and view point is missing, if you're looking for an objective view of the account, this book will not offer that.

This is a book about a strike against an aluminum plant in West Virginia by the United Steelworkers labor union in the early nineties. First, this is a genuinely good read (just based on the story....) with characters (all be they real...) that you root for and others that you shy away from (Emmitt Boyle and Marc Rich are drawn as evil incarnate....) Aside from this, this book serves as a record of a number of things: 1) a model for how a small-town labor struggle could be conducted on a broad-based front; 2) the ways in which capital does not exist in a locality so much as scattered throughout the world; and 3) an illustration of how labor stoppages in small towns have evolved from the days of Pinkerton thugs and picket lines to something more conplex and... well, modern....

I'd really recommend this book to about anyone but, well, honestly, only people really into labor are ever going to read this. This is a really good book....

Even though I gave this book only three stars, it is an interesting though tough read. Simes is a Russian Jew who left the Soviet Union in 1973. Since the late eighties, he has served the former late President Richard Nixon. His trips during the late Soviet era and the first years of the Russian Federation show how U.S. policy has not been full of insight and purpose. Rather he shows the errors of the Bush I and Clinton presidencies. We supported the leader (Gorbachev and Yeltsin) rather than policies that would have helped Russia. Simes also tells us we support doctrinaire policies rather than ones helpful to the Russian people. This is good information for our vaulted foreign policy, since Simes showed the West has made things worse rather than better. He also criticizes democracy in Russia, when at best the government of Russia is a benign authoritarian government.
What I dislike about this book is the name invoking nature of the author's writings. His obvious closeness to Nixon and his policies is one thing. I think the author tries to place himself close to other top Russians. This tends to get old after the first few chapters. Also, the writings of an academic are hard on a normal reader. As one of the previous reviewers has already noted, the chapters move from one topic to another and the reader gets confused following this. Overall there is alot of good information in this book.

Dimitri Simes's "After the Collapse" is a brief survey of recent Russian history that covers roughly the last decade of the Soviet Union and the first of post-Soviet Russia. Written in 1998-1999, it begins its tale with Brezhnev's last years, then surveys Gorbachev and Perestroika, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the rule of Yeltsin in the new Russian Federation. There's a lot of good information in this volume; Simes obviously has extensive knowledge Russia's past and its present situation. His access to major figures in both Russia and the United States is also impressive and allows him to mention large numbers of famous names and imposing titles. His prose is punchy and keeps the narrative moving.

Two problems, however, have led me to take off two stars from my rating. First of all, large sections of the book are far too autobiographical for my taste. Much of the early chapters consists of Simes running through all the meetings he attended (often in the company of Richard Nixon) concerning Yeltsin, Gorbachev and Perestroika. In these sections, "After the Collapse" reads more like Simes' memoirs than an account of the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia. (In its worst moments, it reads more like Nixon's memoirs than anything else.) It's nice that Simes talked with Ronald Reagan once and once sat next to Barbara Bush at a state dinner, but reading about this adds nothing to my knowledge of Russia and its transition from Communism.

The second major problem is that the book is just not well organized. Most chapters have trouble developing an overarching theme and the narrative often jumps around in a disjointed fashion, without giving adequate treatment to many of the topics mentioned. Simes' writing is a little too punchy; people and policies are mentioned and then abandoned after a couple of sentences, only to be treated several more times later in the book. No wonder other reviewers complain of difficulty keeping things straight! From reading this, Simes strikes me as an excellent article writer, but one who has trouble organizing things for more than a few dozen pages.

These problems are generally worse in the early chapters of the book than in the later ones that take place after Nixon's death. Although for a few pages Simes' writing degenerates into pathetic statements like "I am sure that he [Nixon] would have agreed... I believe Nixon would also have been nonplussed..." (104), he quickly pulls himself together and begins writing in a more serious fashion - less autobiographical, with more notes and slightly better organization. Simes' obvious dislike of 'Tsar Boris I' and the Clinton administration does not particularly bother me. After all, I happen to believe that much of his criticism is deserved.

So, in conclusion, this book has a lot of good information, but it's not that great. Besides the problems I've mentioned, a lot has happened in the five years since it was written. The Asian financial crisis is old news and Yeltsin has actually released the reigns of government. I am not aware of any better books on the collapse of the Soviet Union and the first decade of post-Soviet Russia, but I'm sure there are some out there. My suggestion is to pass this book by and keep looking for something better. If you do feel compelled to read this volume, at least get it from the library.

What happens to a Sovietologist once there's no Soviet Union? If the Sovietologist in question is Dmitri K. Simes, he lands a cushy job at the right-wing Nixon Center and pops out the odd book, in which he pursues the avocation of all former Sovietologists: making incompetent predictions about what Russia is going to do.

The Sovietologists had an uncanny track record: in the seventy years that their object of study existed, they never once guessed right about its future course. Every single step the USSR took was news to them. And yet they managed to keep the money coming in by the same means that other soothsayers use: persuading everyone to ignore their past failures by making ever-more-lurid new predictions. Like astrologers, they made a living by persuading frightened, dim clients that there was a supernatural shortcut to understanding complex phenomena.

Their profession has shrunk recently, because no one in the US fears Russia as they did the USSR. But there is always a place for a man like Simes, who possesses a trait even more valuable than predicting the future: the ability to flatter powerful people shamelessly and at length in print. Simes is a born toady. He just goes all gooey when he describes the big players, above all his hero Nixon, who apparently adopted Simes as his lapdog in the latter years of his exile. Simes' unctuous, deferential bearded face is shown on the back cover of this book leaning deferentially toward Nixon, brushing Mister President's jacket for lint like the good little lackey he is.

There are those who claim that Mr Simes supplements his income from the Nixon Center with a regular stipend from another would-be scary employer: the CIA. This view was advanced by Limonov himself in a recent eXile column, which described Limonov's dinner with a drunken Simes and wife, in which Simes broadly hinted that he worked for the CIA and considered himself far superior to the yokels in the FBI. Ah for the old days, when GRU and KGB spent most of the working week slagging each other! No wonder Simes made such a wonderful adjustment to his new home on the Potomac. One of the features of this book is the easy way that Simes equates his former life inside the Soviet bureaucracy with his present job at the Nixon Center. He repeatedly refers to "the Moscow Beltway" when describing the HQ of the Old Regime. Clearly, he sees DC and Moscow as twin towers; he's just stepped across the elevated walkway for a while.

This book is written in the language of those gray journals for which Simes writes: Foreign Policy. U. S. News & World Report. He mentions former Secretaries of Defense as if their names would be remembered, and invokes the living dead (like Kissinger and Nixon) with outright reverence. Much of this book consists of Simes' reconstruction of his trips to Russia with Nixon, in which Nixon appears as a noble figure, compassionate and profound. It's an odd story, most of all because Simes, for all his claim to Americanism, still thinks and writes in a very Soviet way. He longs to find some Great Helmsman who can tell him what to think about everything, and in whom he can invest his talent for sycophancy, and it's no accident that he found it in Nixon--because Nixon, for good or ill, was a very Soviet figure.

But Simes doesn't keep Nixon around just for sentimental reasons. Simes is involved in palace intrigue: a Byzantine secret war within the Sovietology world. Nixon is the banner identifying his faction. Against Simes and Nixon are other presidents and their own little viziers, Simes' rivals: Brzezinski the hated Pole and his Methodist owner, Jimmy the Carter; Bush and his Master of Assassins, James Baker; the evil Strobe Talbott, Russian viceroy of that overage Student-Body president, Clinton. Simes writes about the tyrants and their little grey eminences with the deep hatred of a courtier out of power who has the chance to smear the character of more successful rivals. His topic, of course, is the inevitable one: Who Lost Russia? His conclusion: everybody but me and Nixon.

Half of the story seems absolutely true: the bad half. The whole "How We Messed Up Our Dealings with Russia throughout the Nineties" part. Talbott's an arrogant fool...sounds right to me. Clinton knows nothing about Russia and cares less...yup, wouldn't doubt it. It's the good half that's so doubtful, above all the idea that a man like Simes, a born toady, would have done any better.

Generally a good book. Describes the details, internal workings, personalities and political maneuverings in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet empire. Enlightening about the intellectual capability of the late president Nixon in foreign affairs. Confirms what we would expect from the Clinton administration. Written with a heavy hand. You'll have to wade through the verbiage. Good cure for insomnia. Keep a dictionary handy. Author rather overconfident he has all the solutions to Russia's problems and our relationship with Russia. Overall, worth reading.

This is one of the most coherent, relatively short books available anywhere on what has happened in Russia since the collapse of the old regime. Simes writes in a very clear manner and avoids the long, complex explanations of events common to many who write on this topic. One of the reasons why this book is so readable is that it is more of a journalistic, personal impression which incorporates his discussions with senior Russian leaders as well as former President Nixon. His explanation of Gorbachev's fall, for example, is placed against the background of Nixon's views on the subject as well as his own conversations. I wish I had seen this book earlier. I would have used it in a class I teach on Russian politics.

Dale Herspring Kansas State University

This book is an important read for anyone with an interest in foreign policy and the role that energy is playing in it.

I have read the book and listened to Marshall Goldman speak, and read the other reviews, and am writing this because I think the other reviewers may be missing an important point. It is not so much about the details of the book, and I am sure there are some factual errors. The story is about Putin and about Energy, and how Putin has turned Russia from a bankrupt nation to an energy and economic. powerhouse. Goldman's main message is that we should understand how Russia is successfully using energy as a tool of foreign policy. For example, much of Europe, particularly Germany and Eastern Europe, is becoming dependent on Russia for natural gas, a principle source of their energy supply. Russia is building Nord Stream, a pipeline under the Baltic to deliver natural gas directly to Germany. Russia has a pipeline under the Black Sea to deliver natural gas through Turkey up to Hungary. Russia recently reduced the supply of oil to the Czech Republic, a clear suggestion that Russia is unhappy with U.S - Czech Missile Defense Agreement. Russia is attempting, with some success, to create a pipeline monopoly for delivering natural gas to Europe. Goldman shows how Gazprom is squeezing the supporters of the non-Russian NABUCCO Pipeline from Azerbaijan through Georgia to Turkey and thence to Europe, and how Russia, through Gazprom, particularly is creating partnerships with other gas producers, such as Algeria, to be their distribution arm, closing out possible competitors. Goldman describes the concept of having Russian company officers being simultaneously key members of the government, therefore assuring that the companies are supporting government objectives and policies. Gazprom is a particularly good example.

Of course, all of this Russian power comes from a simple fact: the price of oil and natural gas has jumped since 1998, when Russia was almost bankrupt. Putin is the beneficiary even if not the cause of this phenomenon.

One might get dramatic and say that Russia has invaded Europe, with natural gas pipelines rather than tanks. Perhaps we should take note.

The book opens with the sentence "Russia once again an energy superpower and that is exactly what the book is about.

Russia was the most important non-American producer at the start of the 20th century, it was a very important producer during the Cold War years and it lost it completely in the break up of the Soviet Union.

After the desatrous privatisation under Jeltzin the industry was in tatters. Goldman describes clearly and with good analytical depth how under Putin the country slowly got its grip on its most important natural resource back. Needless to say that the methods used were heavy handed and certainly in a general sense morally and legally questionable. This is not new and the saga continues as we read in the news paper every day ( see e.g. the deleopments around the BP-TNK joint venture).

Goldman also analyzes the role the energy industry plays in the overall aim of Russia to be an important power once again. In particular Europeans should watch this with intensity as they are more and omore dependent on Russia for their energy, in particular gas.

In all, a good, readable and enjoyable analysis. The 5th star is missing for the technical flaws pointed out correctly bey another reviewer. Not hurting the conclusions but a bit sloppy indeed.

As a student of Russian energy markets, I can confidently say that this book is rife with factual errors. Simple things like calling Iran one of the top gas exporters in the world (Iran doesn't export gas at all, it imports it, though Iran does have some of the largest gas reserves in the world); claiming that liquefied natural gas (LNG) often needs long-term contracts of "two years" to sell (usually needs contracts of 10-20 years); contending that OPEC regulated the oil market through production quotas from its founding in 1960 (the production quota system wasn't formally instituted until 1986-1987); etc. The conclusions that Goldman draws from his analysis are largely correct because he knows Russia well, but a lot of the (incorrect) detail he includes demonstrates an interested observer's - not an expert's - understanding of energy markets. If you are an interested observer, go ahead and buy this book. If you are a researcher, you should certainly corroborate the facts in this book.

Overall, the book is filled with detail, most of it correct but some not. I certainly learned something from reading it, things that had slipped under the radar, but I am not convinced that one should trust Marshall Goldman's grasp of energy markets.

Goldman's book, Petrostate was somewhat interesting and shed some light on the complexity of business and energy in Russia. His research and references were undeniable but at times (not to his fault) difficult to follow because of the many "smoke and mirrors" corporate structures of many Russian companies and individuals based there. The government is layered with backscratching which he points out brilliantly throughout.

Overall, the book gave me a better understanding of business in Russia and the size and scope of their global position in energy. Good read.

"Petrostate" provides good insights into Russia's comeback after its late 1990s nadir, as well as an understanding of its economic-political strategies.

Russia regained its place as the world's largest oil producer in 2007; energy generates about 30% of Russia's GDP and 60% of its exports. Russia is a major energy provider to Europe and the U.S. The U.S. buys $10 billion of Russian petroleum, LUKoil bought nearly 3,000 U.S. filling stations from Getty Oil and Mobil. Gazprom also provides LNG to the U.S., via a swap arrangement with Algeria. It also provides natural gas to 405 of Germany's homes and many of its factories, as well as much of the rest of Europe. Russia's Gazprom pipelines also play a major role in delivering gas from the "stans."

There is a fair amount of evidence that CIA chief Casey (Reagan administration) worked with Saudi Arabia (mad at Russia for invading Afghanistan) to break Russia's economy via increased S.A. production - however, the data do not provide a clean fit supporting this theory. Low energy prices in 1998 led to Russia defaulting on its debt, as well as many bank failures within the country. Prices quickly recovered in 1999, and along with a 40% increase in production between 2000-2004 transformed Russia into a major holder of foreign currencies. Russia has avoided the "Dutch Disease" because it didn't have much manufacturing, other than defense industries, to start with.

Mass privatization did not begin until mid-1992 under Yeltsin. Oligarch-controlled banks loaned the state money in exchange for stock certificates; most of the state's economic problems were due to companies and individuals failing to pay taxes - only about 3 in 70 did, and even those usually paid much less than owed. It was agreed that if the banks were not repaid, the stock would be sold. This occurred in mostly rigged auctions that, eg. excluded foreigners, and usually at far less than the stock was worth. Thus, auctioning Yukos brought $309 million, vs a market value soon afterwards of $15 billion. Similar actions occurred in the mining industry. Other assets were given away in return for eg. TV stations providing support for Yeltsin.

Capital requirements to establish private commercial banks were only $75,000 in 1989, after inflation; required $750,000 in 1987. "Oligarchs" could achieve this via sales of consumer goods immediately after the ban on their sales was lifted; other sources included trading commodities, taking advantage of government positions to sell hard-to-get commodities (eg. lumber). Legal chicanery and thuggery allowed further aggregations - government insiders during the late 1990s used their positions to exchange rapidly inflating rubles for IMF and Goldman Sachs loans denominated in dollars. (LTCM went bankrupt during this period. Another "trick" was suddenly changing stockholder meeting locations without notifying stockholders not part of management.)

Many banks failed, however, during the commodities downturn, and millions lost their savings - including Gorbachev. Putin stepped in and replaced Russia's graduated tax (maximum 30%) with a 13% flat tax, set goals of increasing GDP 7%/year (double in ten years), and increased military spending 27% in 2005 and another 22% in 2006.

Putin's 1997 dissertation proposed creating effective companies in natural resources and using them to advance Russia's national interests after commandeering them. He also wanted to open manufacturing to foreign investment (help modernize), but retain operating control - again to focus on national interests. ("National interest" was equated with low prices within Russia, and suspending deliveries to foreign countries that don't support Russian policy.)

Putin seized the assets of media moguls that criticized him, then replaced oil leaders involved in "asset-stripping," and maneuvering to sell large portions of their companies to American firms, reach long-term agreements to sell oil to China, and failing to pay taxes. (Oil leaders were also deemed guilty of black market activities, an economic crime in Russia. Further, there was strong evidence some were involved in several murders of both public leaders and private competitors.)

Russia's re-nationalizing industry (typically 50% + 1) has given it leverage greater than with nuclear