Russia 1985-1999: TraumaZone

Perestroika. The dream of saving communism. But no-one believes in anything any longer. The managers loot the system. Soldiers return defeated in the war to liberate Afghanistan.

President Gorbachev still believes he can save communism. But there are no potatoes in Moscow. People travel to tiny villages to get food. Gorbachev's rival, Boris Yeltsin, decides communism is finished. Things get worse. Then they get much worse as the rational Communist plan runs out of control everywhere. But McDonald's opens in Moscow. The army and the KGB realise their power is collapsing. They have to stop what is happening.

The empire strikes back. The hardliners bring tanks to Moscow. But power slips through their shaking hands. The Oligarchs publish their manifesto for the future. Money will replace all ideologies. It is safer. Yeltsin seizes power and abolishes communism. Parts of the old Russian empire, including Chechnya and Ukraine, demand their freedom too.

Russia goes through the mirror. There is a new plan to create democracy overnight. Those in charge say it is rational. What it creates is a terrifying dream world where nothing is stable any more. And strange dream visions of Russia's imperial past start to rise up. While people cannot even afford food. But in Moscow women are taught to smile by American cosmetic companies.

Russian society implodes and millions of Russian people fall into the abyss. Many turn to live underground or in the forests. The president attacks parliament with tanks saying he is saving democracy. The oligarchs move billions into offshore zones. Factories have no money. They pay their workers with the very things they make.

The group around the president believe a war in Chechnya will save him. Others want the war to restore the glory of the Russian empire. The Oligarchs seize control of practically everything. In the upside down world gangsters become heroes for defending democracy.

A massive boom spreads through Moscow. It seems that capitalism has arrived. But suddenly the western bankers flee taking the money with them. The Oligarchs take control of a ruined society and search for a new president who they believe will make them safe. And who they can control. The Russian people turn against what they called "the curse of democracy". Both communism and democracy are finished.