> I think what's interesting about this is not what the reports says --
> it's hardly news that the place wuz robbed -- and I'm sure Zyuganov and
> many others are right to argue that the real loss is at least $300bn.
>
Concretely, what does this mean. Does it mean that raw materials were essentially extracted for no pay. That factories were dismantled. That skilled workers were paid substantial premiums to leave and have exited the Soviet Union. It seems to me being ignorant of the true nature of whats going on that this simply amounts to a boycott of Russian Business by Foreign Capital. If Foreigners sell a firm to a Russian or another foreigner for a song and the business is not operated then presumably it could be expropriated. Are we threatening to send the troups in to protect our investments.
We know that the Russia has or had the tecnical expertise to build an Industrial Machine. Stalin managed to do this at great personal cost in Russian Lives.. While in the case of Cuba its much clearer why a capital flight is extremely harmful, in a large relatively well trained country like the Soviet Union this is less obvious. Is the basic problem that Russia is food short or has an inefficient agricultural system and has to use Raw Materials or manufacutrues to finance feeding its population. I'm confused
In particular, why is the Russia having more of a hard time than say Chechoslovakia or Poland or is this a fabrication of the press.
--mike -- Michael Cohen mike at cns.bu.edu Associate Professor, Center for Adaptive Systems Work: 677 Beacon, Street, Rm313 Boston, Mass 02115 Home: 25 Stearns Rd, #3 Brookline, Mass 02146 Tel-Work: 617-353-9484 Tel-Home:617-353-7755