kagarlitsky testimoney

[Mark Jones]

> From: Brad De Long <delong at econ.Berkeley.EDU>
> Subject: Re: kagarlitsky testimony
>
> I do have some marginal notes on Paul Krugman's diagnosis of Russia's
> current crisis, which runs:
<snip>
> The most striking thing about this story is how self-destructive the
> behavior of the oligarchs seems to have been. It is very much in their
> collective interest to have the current regime survive, so that they can
> continue to profit from their ill-gotten empires. Why couldn't they get
> together and agree to pay enough taxes to keep their rackets going?
>
> Krugman is puzzled that Russia's robber barons appear to be acting much
> more like short-term loot-and-run plunderers than like people who are in
> it for the long haul. This surprises Krugman. This surprises the U.S.
> government--which thought by now to see a lot more people willing to pay
> taxes to the regime than we now see--and it surprises me.

The 'surprise' evinced by allegedly well-informed persons like deLong,
Krugman and the US govt at what was entirely obvious to everyone else no
doubt springs from an unwillingness to acknowledge the moral (and criminal) 
responsibility of the West for encouraging the plunderers to plunder,for
sanctioning it, dressing it up with a fine halo of 'reformist' good intent,
and for turning a blind eye on the genocidal destruction of a nation. Nothing
could be more egregious than the sanctimonious pieties now uttered by these
wise monkeys (deLong is a famous expert on all genocides, everywhere: 
except the genocide wrought by his own government and the 'advisers' that
deLong himself is so pally with, in Russia since 1991).

Mark
PS Here are two items from this weeks Khabarovsk (Far Eastern Region)
news:

 NO MONEY FOR RETIRED PEOPLE SUPPORT
(Pryamursky Vedomosty. Sept. 18)
Governor of Khabarovsk Krai Victor Ishayev reported straight, that Krai
budget has no money for social support of retired people. There are 342500
retired people in Khabarovsk Krai, and 74% of them live below a poverty
line. They are not provided with free meal, medications and other social
benefits.
----------------------------
(Khabarovsky Vesty Sept. 15)
" I am a disable woman. I am very much sick. I have a daughter, who studies
in college. Our family monthly income per person is 230 Rbls (USD10.00).Can
we survive with this money? But I need medications and can not buy them. We
where promised, that socially unprotected people will enjoy a low price
medications, but where are the benefits?
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