Russia increasingly lived on short-term borrowing. Now, this was an extraordinary merry-go-round.

The Russian drama began at the end of 1991, when the Soviet Union mercifully ended. Russia and 14 other new countries emerged from the ruins of the Soviet Union. Every one of those 15 new states faced a profound historical, economic, financial, social and political challenge.

Russia has gone through eight years of continuing economic pain.

We, being the Western world, wouldn't let Russia off the hook on debt. So there were demands on debt servicing in the early days until they ran out of reserves. There was no real aid program, just a fictional aid program.

Let's start fresh with Russia on some real help and some real reform.

Russia has become an enormous black hole for our money,