I am not sure what value I can add to the passing of the former PM and economic architect of the Russian Federation, Yegor Gaidar, to everything else that is being published today.  I just know that I shouldn’t let it go by unmentioned.  He passed away today from a blood clot at the remarkably young age of 53.  I write “remarkably” because one forgets that he rose to the level of Prime Minister by the age of 36, and made many friends and enemies both earlier and later throughout his controversial career.

Gaidar was a complex character with a mixed career during an incredibly challenging time.  For many his passing brings back memories of “shock therapy” economic policies, which ravaged people’s savings, caused widespread sudden poverty, and brought about a period of fiscal doldrums of many people’s worst nightmares.  It shouldn’t be surprising that there remains so much hate and malevolence toward Gaidar on the day of his death, but I am nevertheless taken aback.