But the West's blunders are not confined to the political and geopolitical realms. These ostensible multilaterals have committed yet another strategic blunder. The post-Communist countries in transition are like infants taking their first steps in the demanding world of free markets and capitalism. The multilateral financial institutions are the mother figures. Good mothers let go, encourage in the child a sense of independence, self-reliance, learning by mistakes and the predictability of just rewards and punishments.
Bad mothers refuse to acknowledge the emerging boundaries of their off-spring.
They reward clinging behaviour and punish every act of separation and individuation. They are overweening, doting, crushing figures. He goes away a step or two and runs back to receive the mother's reassurance that she still loves him and that she is still there. He is an Economic Advisor to the Government of Macedonia.