The Foreign Service Journal, September 2022

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2022 13 Share your thoughts about this month’s issue. Submit letters to the editor: journal@afsa.org CORRECTIONS In the July-August 2022 Reflec- tion, “Pearl Buck’s Rehabilitation in China,” Ms. Buck’s parents’ names should be Caroline and Absalom Sydenstricker. In the July-August 2022 book review, the correct year for the Tet Offensive is 1968, not 1967. We regret the errors. and possibly negative backlash. So I read and reread each section to be sure everything included was exactly as I remembered it and removed anything I judged to be even a little questionable. Since I anticipated negative feed- back, it came as a surprise to receive instead several (18+) emails and phone calls from FSOs thanking me for writing the article, for “saying what needed to be said.” In fact, the responses from Mr. Myers ( “No One Was Listening…?!” in June 2022) and Mr. Norris ( “Unavoid- able Chaos, No ‘Shock Therapy’” in July-August 2022) are the first rebuttals I’ve seen. I do dispute some of their state- ments. For example, if there is any doubt about shock therapy, all one needs to do is an online search for “shock therapy, Russia, 1992.” Not only do these articles establish shock therapy as a real thing, every article supports my thesis. Mr. Norris says that developing cooperatives is very difficult, more difficult than establishing a private sector. What was attempted in Russia was not just establishing cooperatives or a private sector, it was moving a huge economy from communism to capital- ism. What could possibly be more com- plicated and difficult? But shock therapy was in line with Russia policy guidance. Cooperatives were not. I don’t want to discuss point by point these responses. I know from working with USAID that our team in Moscow was very dedicated to doing the best they could within the confines of State Department policy guidance, as is always the case. I don’t doubt they believe what they are saying and are somewhat insulted that I would present an alternative nar- rative, especially now when we have the war in Ukraine. For my part, I think it’s vital to hear from those who dissent from the established narrative, perhaps more important now than ever. I stand behind everything I wrote in the article. I guess the best we can do is just agree to disagree. I do appreciate the FSJ giving my thoughts a broader audi- ence. It really seems to have hit many in a very positive way, if not Mr. Myers and Mr. Norris. Kristin Loken USAID FSO, retired Falling Waters, West Virginia n