he said, 'Gentlemen, I want to make an announcement: the Soviet Union is over.'

 https://x.com/nxt888/status/1860237150312165629

Sony Thang

@nxt888

JEFFREY SACHS:

"In December 1991, I was leading a delegation of economists to meet with President [of Russia Boris] Yeltsin. The room in the Kremlin was gigantic, almost the size of a football field. We waited and waited, and then, in the very far corner, the door opened, and President Yeltsin came bounding up to the table. He sat down right in front of me. I was the head of our delegation, and he said, 'Gentlemen, I want to make an announcement: the Soviet Union is over.' It was amazing, especially as an American, to hear that in the Kremlin, face to face with the President of Russia—it was a little unusual. He then pointed to the room in the back and said, 'Do you know who I was meeting with back there? I was meeting with the heads of the military, and they have agreed to the end of the Soviet Union. So, I can say the Soviet Union is over.' Well, you don't get too many moments in life like that—this was truly extraordinary. President Yeltsin then went on to say, 'What does Russia want? Russia wants to be a democratic country. Russia wants to be a peaceful country. Russia wants to cooperate.' And the word that he liked most of all: 'Russia wants to be normal. We want to be normal—no more Bolshevism—we want to be normal.' Then it came time for me to speak, and I said, 'President Yeltsin, this is very moving for us, and we are honored to be here with you. I want to assure you that what you have said is the greatest dream of the United States. We've had a Cold War for 45 years. We came to the brink of nuclear war. What you are saying, Mr. President, is truly a symphony for the United States. This is the best possible news.' 'I am also sure that the United States will help you financially, help you stabilize, and help you reform the economy, because what could be more important?' I was wrong. The United States didn't help—at all. And I was also wrong for an interesting personal reason. Two years earlier, I was Poland's advisor. By a strange twist of fate, I became the lead advisor to the Polish government on economic reform as a non-Polish advisor. At the time, I recommended many things that the United States and Europe should do to help Poland, such as not making Poland pay its debts because they were crushing. I recommended canceling half the debts, giving Poland billions of dollars to get started again, and providing some social cushion, and so on. Pretty much whatever I recommended was adopted. Well, I was 35 at the time and thought, 'Pretty good, you know—the President's listening to me, the National Security Advisor's listening to me, Congress is listening to me.

'https://x.com/nxt888/status/1860237150312165629