Economics: How an Empire Fell

The American Enterprise Institution for Public Policy Research has posted Grain and Oil. It was a speech by Yegor Gaidar who is director of the Institute for Economies in Transition in Moscow. At the time of the Soviet Union's collapse--- between 1991 and 1994, Yegor Gaidar held the positions of acting prime minister of Russia, minister of economy, and first deputy prime minister.

He has an interesting conclusion:

the understanding by the elites and society that a real democracy is not an ideological dogma or something imposed by the West, but rather an important precondition for the stable development of the country, will finally give Russia the hope of escaping crises and cataclysms. This realization is vitally important for Russia's development in the next decades. (i added the bold/emphasis)

story came across via digg.

Yegor Gaidar has an interesting take on history. His idea is that the collapse of the Soviet Union was really a foregone conclusion that involved mistakes in economic strategies as well as dependence on oil.

While his thoughts are for Russia in general, which he likened the existing conditions to Germany before world war 1 and until world war 2, we too can gain insights based on learning from history.

Anybody we know has an overt dependence on oil and falling/inept grain production?