You Know, It's Easier to Deal With Yeltsin and a Fake Democracy

It was thought easier by the American elites to deal with Yeltsin and a fake democracy than, you know, what Gorbachev was trying to build. Fewer opportunities, more messy. And yeah, all the guards who can, it's just easier to do business with. But there is some truth to that. Oh, there was a sense throughout the Northern elite that, yeah, we know they're doing terrible things down there. Even FDR, as you've said many times, made that compromise. Like, yeah, I know, but they vote with me when it counts.