I don’t point this out in defense of any country or government over the other, but because I feel like this is a very important piece of history that has been intentionally or unintentionally buried/ignored even though it’s extremely relevant to current events in 2025. (As an aside, in the big debate between Capitalism vs. Communism, I choose neither. I think it’s kind of brain washy/cultish to try and make people believe they have to “pick a team,” or that either system was without plenty of flaws that could be/were/are exploited by corrupt individuals within the U.S.S.R./modern day Russia and the U.S.A.)
In the years leading up to the collapse of the Soviet Union, one of the original co-founders of the Heritage Foundation frequently travelled back and forth between the United States to Moscow and Eastern Europe.
When the Union collapsed, he and several other members of Heritage were ready to fill the power vacuum and helped establish the first go between for U.S. and Russian capitalist businesses.
“You capture the Soviet Union --I’m going to capture the states.”-Thomas Roe, Heritage Foundation board member and founder of the State Policy Network
to fellow Heritage Foundation board member Robert Krieble.
I don’t point this out in defense of any country or government over the other, but because I feel like this is a very important piece of history that has been intentionally or unintentionally buried/ignored even though it’s extremely relevant to current events in 2025. (As an aside, in the big debate between Capitalism vs. Communism, I choose neither. I think it’s kind of brain washy/cultish to try and make people believe they have to “pick a team,” or that either system was without plenty of flaws that could be/were/are exploited by corrupt individuals within the U.S.S.R./modern day Russia and the U.S.A.)
In the years leading up to the collapse of the Soviet Union, one of the original co-founders of the Heritage Foundation frequently travelled back and forth between the United States to Moscow and Eastern Europe.
Paul Weyrich, the American conservative who essentially birthed Project 2025 and is famously quoted as saying “I don’t want everyone to vote,” founded the Free Congress Foundation (FCF) after creating the Heritage Foundation in the 70s. During the 80s, Weyrich began sneaking computers and other electronics to Soviet dissidents while traveling all over the country and teaching soviet politicians all about American “democracy.”
When the Union collapsed, he and several other members of Heritage were ready to fill the power vacuum and helped establish the first go between for U.S. and Russian capitalist businesses.
“You capture the Soviet Union --I’m going to capture the states.”-Thomas Roe, Heritage Foundation board member and founder of the State Policy Network to fellow Heritage Foundation board member Robert Krieble.
In 1989, the Krieble Institute was created “to promote democracy and economic freedom in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.”
1989: A Republican in Moscow (WaPo article about Weyrich holding mock elections)
1991: RUSSIA HOUSE, TRADING IN ITS NAME WaPo Article about the first ever go between for U.S. and Russian businesses involving Weyrich and Krieble
PBS Documentary about Weyrich and Krieble involvement in Collapse of USSR Playing For Power (2012)