The Riddle of Russian Reform

Communist Russia, though oppressive and secretive, was an open book compared to the murky contradictions and competing ideological illusions that mark the new Russia. The country is far more open than it was, but it makes less sense. Furthermore, Westerners’ misguided assumptions about Russia, and the self-deceptions they project upon it, make the country seem more of a riddle than it really is.

Much nonsense has been disseminated in recent months about the background of the Yelt...