Russian Manifesto, long and probably useless

[Tim May]

On Tuesday, December 4, 2001, at 04:14 AM, Fyodor wrote:

>> <<Only in our country is it possible for such an ineffective, 
>> talentless
>> government to exist.>>
>>
>> Here we go again! I mean, I'm sure the Russian government is 
>> incompetent -
>> but to decry that? Pray for more! The more incompetent they are, the 
>> more
>> chances you have of developing an economy behind their backs.
>>
>
> Wrong. Having russian background I guess I have more clear understanding
> what these guys are trying to say: The government is definetely
> ineffective in protecting its citizen, providing the social wealthfare
> to them and such, but on the other hand the government corruption, deep
> involvement with crimilal circles and udertable deals with big foreign
> corporations bring the country into the situation when the rulling top
> of the country is having/sharing a huge amount (can't bring any number) 
> of
> all the profits, while the rest of population (especially pensioners in
> russia (people of age of 50 and above, who are brought up in
> post-socialist environment and are totally incapable to adopt to new
> environment)) are thrown and maintained in poverty.

This matches everything I have seen about Russia. It simply is 
implausible that "corruption and inefficiency means more opportunities 
for economies behind their backs" (to summarize the argument).

What Russia shows is that privatizing a state-run economy is difficult 
indeed. Gazprom, the big gas and energy company, is a case in point. 
There was no "free market" to acquire the resources of this "privatized" 
company: the thugs and apparatchniks (sp?) grabbed the company. And they 
are willing to use former KGB, GRU, and Spetsnaz killers to enforce 
their monopoly.

What about non-heavy industry? Television, for example? Read about the 
ongoing shutdown of Moscow independent stations and networks, on flimsy 
grounds having the _language_ of capitalism (stuff about "loan default") 
but actually being just part of the thugocracy approach. (The U.S. is 
not blameless here. Our own FCC applies similar rules sometimes to block 
stations. And woe unto any Islamic broadcaster, where the new language 
is that the First Amendment does not apply to "hate speech" or "speech 
insulting to other religions." At this rate, the long-awaited 
convergence of Russia and America is not far off.)

Russia as a haven for Havenco? For digital money? For e-commerce?

Laughable.

--Tim May
>
--Tim May
"If I'm going to reach out to the the Democrats then I need a third 
hand.There's no way I'm letting go of my wallet or my gun while they're 
around." --attribution uncertain, possibly Gunner, on Usenet