According to Mr. Clinton, the first priority is enhanced tax collection, as if Russia hadn't had enough of that. But if everyone will pay their fair share, the share will be modest and their incomes will be larger over the long run because of the stability and growth it will bring to this Russian economic system. Some American commentators have expressed regret that Mr. Clinton went to Russia with little to no moral credibility. But perhaps this was for the best. I do not think he really cares about anybody, his family included.
All politicians are only interested in power and coercion.
There's truth here, underscored by the unavoidable analogies between the respective political fortunes of Boris Yeltsin and Mr. Clinton. Mr. Yeltsin is supported only by those whose checks he signs, and only then in public. Even aside from his legal troubles, Mr. Clinton is under fire the world over for approving a bombing raid on a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan that provided half the medicines available in Africa. Putting aside their attempt to recapture the status that came with power from days gone by, one wonders what, if anything, these two leaders have to offer. To be sure, the Russian crisis is real, but the crisis dates not to last month but to 1917, when the state fastened controls on the economy it has yet to fully release.