DBWI: No Baker plan

The decision of James Baker, Secretary of State under Bush, to give a massive Marshall plan style aid packages to Russia contributed exponentially to Russia's economic growth. Today it is a friend of western nations and is a functioning democracy. But many in the state department opposed plan. What if they got their way? Would Russia still be a rich, functioning democracy? And if not that, would they manage to become a threat again or will they be too poor to return to their former glory?
 
That's honestly a good question. One thing's for certain, though: George H.W. Bush might not have anywhere near as much of a positive legacy as he does now(granted, he still lost pretty badly to Bill Clinton in '92 IOTL, but he's got rather higher marks than Reagan according to many modern historians).

Then again, maybe China wouldn't be as much of a foreign policy/national security threat as it is now.....(Xi Jinping's regime may be rather unpopular, and on it's way to crumbling, but he's still a formidable dictator, nonetheless)
 
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