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The collapse of the Soviet Empire liberated Russia from an inefficient tyranny that oppressed Russians as much as the other nationalities within the former Soviet Union. Imperial breakup created countless new problems of great severity—social, economic, cultural, political, and constitutional. All these remain to be resolved. Russia is now going through a new "time of trouble," but throughout its history, Russia has always displayed remarkable resilience in the face of disaster. Hence Russia will surely recover in time as a great power. The United States has no natural quarrel with the new Russia, but U.S. policymakers can only influence events in Russia in a marginal fashion. The United States can give technical advice, but this should preferably be furnished by private bodies. The United States cannot and should not attempt to subsidize Russian recovery by massive purposes that benefit the United States, for instance, to dismantle nuclear weapons. The United States should not become involved, directly or indirectly, in those numerous border issues that may continue to plague the successor states of the Soviet Union. The main U.S. role should be to function as an internatinal paradigm of an effective democracy, based on multiethnic coorperation, a federal system of government, and a market economy.