A Good Cold Shower

AT A TIME when billions of dollars in Western taxpayers’ money are pouring into Moscow to support Russian economic reforms, the very title of Marshall Goldman’s latest book is something of a cold shower. After all, the reforms, following painful fits and starts, seem finally to be making some headway: Russian interest rates reflect the cost of capital, the ruble is convertible, a privatization of sorts is in full swing, the majority of Russians are now said to be working in the private sector.

Mr. Sikorski is NR’s roving correspondent.

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Radek Sikorski

AT A TIME when billions of dollars in Western taxpayers’ money are pouring into Moscow to support Russian economic reforms, the very title of Marshall Goldman’s latest book is something of a cold shower. After all, the reforms, following painful fits and starts, seem finally to be making some headway: Russian interest rates reflect the cost of capital, the ruble is convertible, a privatization of sorts is in full swing, the majority of Russians are now said to be working in the private sector.

Mr. Sikorski is NR’s roving correspondent.