To Viktor, with Love

AL Gore can claim, with some justice, that he’s had more hands-on foreign-policy experience than George W. Bush. The problem is, the key experience—his leading role in Russia policy—was a disaster: Gore built a close relationship with Viktor Chernomyrdin, who is not only that country’s longest-serving prime minister, but also one of the richest civil servants of our time. You see, Chernomyrdin is one of the dozen or so leading criminals in Russia.

At this point, the half-smart foreign-policy think-tank people will murmur that it’s a rough world, no omelet without breaking eggs, etc., etc. And yes, if the people Gore sponsored had made their personal fortunes in the process of creating a post Communist Russian renaissance, we could cut them some slack on the ethics questions. But that’s not what happened: Gore’s friends robbed Russia of everything they could steal, in the middle of the worst depression experienced by any country in the 20th century. Oh, and they robbed us blind as well—which helped cause the global financial crisis (nearly a meltdown) of 1998.

JD

About the Author

John Dizard

Featured Tags

AL Gore can claim, with some justice, that he’s had more hands-on foreign-policy experience than George W. Bush. The problem is, the key experience—his leading role in Russia policy—was a disaster: Gore built a close relationship with Viktor Chernomyrdin, who is not only that country’s longest-serving prime minister, but also one of the richest civil servants of our time. You see, Chernomyrdin is one of the dozen or so leading criminals in Russia.

At this point, the half-smart foreign-policy think-tank people will murmur that it’s a rough world, no omelet without breaking eggs, etc., etc. And yes, if the people Gore sponsored had made their personal fortunes in the process of creating a post Communist Russian renaissance, we could cut them some slack on the ethics questions. But that’s not what happened: Gore’s friends robbed Russia of everything they could steal, in the middle of the worst depression experienced by any country in the 20th century. Oh, and they robbed us blind as well—which helped cause the global financial crisis (nearly a meltdown) of 1998.