> As a westerner, it was interesting to watch the
> ruble/dollar exchange rate
> grow in 1992 in the former Soviet Union. That was a
> sweet time to visit the
> FSU though. People were free to do whatever they
> wanted but goods and
> services were still subsidized. I flew round-trip
> from Chernivtsi to Crimea
> for US$12!
Ha. Not any more. More BMWs get sold in Moscow yearly than in all Germany. Any anyway the euro is becoming the standard. But then Moscow is almost a city state -- it is at a Western European level of development. Average monthly income in Moscow is probably somewhere between $500-$750 a month, judging by the help wanted ads, as opposed to maybe $150 in the provinces. Goods and services are still largely subsidized. Actually if Putin were a Latin American leader he'd probably be considered a pinko in the US press (they use weird double standards).
The Moscow-provinces polarization is amazing. I saw an ad for a TV show on the provinces recently on Moscow TV (i.e., everywhere in Russia that isn't Moscow). "It's a different lifestyle; it's different people; it's a DIFFERENT WORLD: watch THE PROVINCES!" Not even the Paris/rest of France division comes close. It's the imperial core and everywhere else.
I'm overlimit, sorry, I'm outta here.
===== Nu, zayats, pogodi!
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