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thrusut into

When you were thrust into this position [in 1991] just after the Cold War ended, you were in a place to experiment with all our ideas about theory and action and how they go together. What have you learned in these eight years about what happens when you apply these theories to the real world?

make a quick buck あぶく銭を稼ぐ、手っ取り早く金を稼ぐ、手っ取り早くもうける

It is also a way of assuaging distrust in foreign companies, which are often perceived as mammoths barging in to make a quick buck or to wreck local businesses.