Perestroika (Перестройка) was a political movement for reformation within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during the 1980s and is widely associated with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and his glasnost (meaning "openness") policy reform. The literal meaning of perestroika is "restructuring", referring to the restructuring of the Soviet political and economic system.

Perestroika is sometimes argued to be a significant cause of the revolutions of 1989 (referred to as counter-revolutions by the USSR's defenders, and colour revolutions) and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which marked the end of the Cold War. 

For Gorbachev, Perestroika was a means to achieve peace and prosperity for Russia... But the vultures came in. In Russia they were mainly Oligarchs. Businessmen who took "profitable" state enterprises into their private hands for little effort. Meanwhile as the Soviet Union was being dismantled, the West saw enormous possibilities in robbing the place. The CIA set up "banks" as shop front. By the end of Yeltsin's tenure, a drunk supported by the West, Russia was a giant mess, about to become a third world country. 

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In 1989, Berezovsky took advantage of the opportunities presented by perestroika to found LogoVAZ with Badri Patarkatsishvili and senior managers from Russian automobile manufacturer AvtoVAZ. LogoVAZ developed software for AvtoVAZ, sold Soviet-made cars and serviced foreign cars.[31] The dealership profited from hyperinflation by taking cars on consignment and paying the producer at a later date when the money lost much of its value.[32]

One of Berezovsky's early endeavors was All-Russia Automobile Alliance) (AVVA), a venture fund he formed in 1993 with Alexander Voloshin (Boris Yeltsin's future Chief of Staff) and AvtoVAZ Chairman Vladimir Kadannikov.[32] Berezovsky controlled about 30% of the company, which raised nearly US$50 million from small investors through a bonded loan to build a plant producing a "people's car". The project did not collect sufficient funds for the plant and the funds were instead invested into AvtoVAZ production, while the debt to investors was swapped for equity.[33][34] By 2000, AVVA held about one-third of AvtoVAZ.[35]

In 1994, Berezovsky was the target of a car bombing incident, but survived the assassination attempt, in which his driver was killed and he himself was injured.[36] Alexander Litvinenko led the FSB investigation into the incident and linked the crime to the resistance of the Soviet-era AvtoVaz management to Berezovsky's growing influence in the Russian automobile market.[37]

Berezovsky's involvement in the Russian media began in December 1994, when he gained control over ORT Television (see Channel One (Russia)) to replace the failing Soviet Channel 1.[38] He appointed the popular anchorman and producer Vladislav Listyev as CEO of ORT. Three months later Listyev was assassinated amid a fierce struggle for control of advertising sales.[39] Berezovsky was questioned in the police investigation, among many others, but the killers were never found.[40] Under Berezovsky's stewardship, ORT became a major asset of the reformist camp as they prepared to face Communists and nationalists in the upcoming presidential elections.[41]

From 1995 to 1997, through the controversial loans-for-shares privatisation auctions[42][43] (see Privatisation in Russia), Berezovsky and Patarkatsishvili assisted Roman Abramovich in acquiring control of Sibneft, the sixth-largest Russian oil company, which constituted the bulk of his wealth.[44][45] In an article in The Washington Post in 2000, Berezovsky revealed that the American financier George Soros declined an invitation to participate in the acquisition.[46]

In 1995, he played a key role in a management reshuffle at Aeroflot and participated in its corporatization,[31] with his close associate Nikolai Glushkov becoming Aeroflot's CFO. In January 1998, it was announced that Sibneft would merge with Mikhail Khodorkovsky's Yukos to create the third-largest oil company in the world.[47] The merger was abandoned five months later amid falling oil prices.[48]

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When Putin came in, he had a massive job on his hands, including fighting the disinformation stemming from the West and from within. People are entitled to have viewpoints, but the country could not afford to go down the drain because someone had an "opinion". It's as simple as this. Having worked for the KGB, Putin knew how things were being manipulated. As the protégé of the St Petersburg Mayor, a clever and reasonably ethical man, Putin had little else to do but play a very clever game to stop Russia bleeding to death. Since then, the West has been trying to unseat him, including through misinformation and various tricks.

Misinformation comes from journalistic sources in various ways. Journalists in the West are biased and always blame Putin for what happens to their colleagues in Russia. Journalists die. But no only in Russia. In Europe and the USA, the picture is not good either. Many journalists who have opposing views to present governments, US and Europeans, choose to live outside these jurisdictions, otherwise they would be eliminated by various means including the way Assange is treated in the UK. Jamal Khashoggi's murder was blatant but sometimes one has to ask questions...

More to come

Cartoon at top by Gus Leonisky, lazily using the doves from cartoonist Moir...