Issues with Henry aside, I think "ever since the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, a succession of American administrations has acted as if the creation of Russian democracy were a principal American task" may be one of the most spot-on things I've ever read in any paper in my whole life.

I'm surprised you agree with this. Plunder and pillage do not indicate a preoccupation with democracy, in any meaningful, non-PR definition of the term IMHO. What, supporting Chubais and Gaidar, demonstrates an active involvement in creating Democracy? How exactly did these administrations act to create "democracy" in Russia?

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake