Mr. Gaidar received an invitation from the US occupation administration on September 5. Petar Stoyanov, ex-President of Bulgaria, and Mart Laar, the former Estonian Prime Minister, will be developing plans for the restoration of Iraq together with Mr. Gaidar. In October, Marek Belka, ex-Prime Minister of Poland, will become chief economist in the coalition administration of Iraq.

Commenting on the decision of the US administration, the online newspaper RBC Daily reports that Mr. Gaidar has already “lifted” one economy – in Russia. However, he seems to have overestimated his strength, and the economy collapsed. After this ‘experiment’, analysts at the Russian Academy of Sciences calculated that without Mr. Gaidar, the Russian GDP would have dropped by 2 percent in 1992-1993. With Mr. Gaidar, or rather with his liberal reform policy, which was largely continued by the succeeding Cabinet, the GDP fell by 25 percent in the first half of the 1990s, and it dropped further later. Meanwhile, China, which entered the market in a different way, flourished.

In the opinion of RBC Daily, Mr. Gaidar’s high mission in Iraq shows clearly that the Americans are facing a real crisis in the country. Neither the military, nor the administrations of Jay Garner and Paul Bremer managed to solve the Iraqi problem. The local staff is unreliable, and people from abroad are needed. But where to find them – experienced, loyal to the US and liberal and market-oriented – it is a big question.