The West’s Post-Soviet ‘Democracy’ Playbook

The Libertarian Institute · Jun 24, 2026

Envision the following scenario: it is the 2008 U.S. presidential election between Senator John McCain (R-AR) and Senator Barack Obama (D-IL). As the results begin pouring in, a senator from another country writes to The New York Times and warns that if the elections don’t go a certain way, there could be “profound implications.” We don’t have to imagine this scenario for long, because something very similar actually happened during Ukraine’s 2004 election. After the first round of […]