Russian (Political) Idol

[slim 1,533]

I actually thought the bus was free when I first got there, kind of one of those govt. promotional things to encourage public trans.... until I saw that guy getting slapped around.

The bus here (in Cincinnati) is also $1.50 and then costs more depending on which "zone" you're going to. At $3-6 a day, plus the extra hour each way, you may as well drive. And they wonder why nobody wants to take the bus.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Hmmm...if you can find anything, please post. My recollection is that the US pretty much bragged about "defeating" the USSR, and then quickly forgot about them, while Europe simply turned their backs.

I haven't had time to look - work has been incredibly busy. But I haven't forgotten about this thread...

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...751C1A960958260

*I.M.F. Is Resuming Its Loans to Russia*

"The International Monetary Fund said today that it had approved the resumption of lending to Russia, giving the go-ahead for the release of $336 million to the financially strapped country.

The fund had withheld paying two monthly loans to Russia in October and November, largely because of dissatisfaction with the low level of Government revenues. Since then, Moscow has worked to get back into the fund's good graces through a drive to get Russian companies to pay the taxes they owe.

In a statement, a fund spokesman made note of the efforts, citing Moscow's ''improved revenue performance.''

The money is part of a $10.2 billion, three-year loan agreement reached with Russia last year."

[Brad and Vika 129]

There should be a law requiring a slap to the back of the head for that guy by everyone behind him in line. And the clerk. I'm sure they'd enjoy it as well. Hell, we'd probably have an abundance of new clerk applicants just biting at the chance to slap someone. Come to think if it, if there were more "slap offenses" in the U.S., people probably wouldn't do such boneheaded things.

Supporting point - while in Russia I saw a dude getting slapped around pretty good on the bus because he didn't have a ticket. Needless to say we made it a priority to buy tickets right away from that point on. Don't know if that was the American in me coming out, maybe the Russians will put up with a slapping here and there if it saves them a few bucks, but I wasn't having any part of it just to save a few kopecks.

Frustration runs high in lines here at times. When my grandmother was alive, she would take a purse the size of a steamer trunk to the grocery store. She would write a check, and had no driver's license. By the time she was done, you could hear pistols cocking all the way to the back of the store

What would you have liked to see the West offer that wasn't?

Pretty much the same type of help we offered Iraq and Afghanistan after "regime change." Everything from tax experts to experts on Constitutional law, economists, etc. Again I think Europe should have taken a much larger lead on this than the US, because European laws and practices are closer to the post-Soviet system than ours. There was a small window of opportunity where Western involvement would have made a huge difference. Instead it seems as if we isolated Russia even more.

I think that where Russia is concerned, there might have been a problem of scale, offering that kind of aid. And we do require that they let us basically destroy their country to get the aid. Just saying.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

A loan initiated last year isn't quite what I had in mind.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...751C1A960958260

I.M.F. Is Resuming Its Loans to Russia

Published: December 14, 1996

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

A loan initiated last year isn't quite what I had in mind.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...751C1A960958260

I.M.F. Is Resuming Its Loans to Russia

Published: December 14, 1996

ok, my fault for not reading the date.

But look...Communism in Russia lasted roughly 70 years. I'm not talking about just some money. I'm talking about a real commitment of the kind we're supposedly giving in Iraq. Now granted, Iraq has been a disaster from the top down, but what I mean is that Europe and the United States needed to provide the resources and know-how to pull Russia back in to the rest of the world. It's fine to give money, but when you give them money while at the same time still calling them a global threat, it's not helpful. Europe needed to welcome the FSU countries as world partners, and the US needed to welcome Russia as a friend. Instead, Europe mostly dismissed Russia as a serious partner, and the US did nothing but brag about how we defeated Communism and were bringing democracy to the rest of the world.

Which is not to say that Russia are entirely blameless, because certainly they've not acted in the best interests of Europe either, especially over the last 5-6 years. But when your neighbors treat you like a second class citizen, it doesn't help.

I agree with alot of your post. Infact that loan from the INF ended up getting "funnelled" through NY banks from Yelstin and some shady US bankers....laundered back into private accounts. Most of that money never did go where it was suppose to go, and it was with help of some US bankers that this happened. Also the oil company's made a "land grab" over in far east Russia not to mention the air bases the US jumped on in other CIS country's. The west could have, and should have helped Russia alot more than it did....no doubt about that. I think it's because of alot of this that Russia holds alot of animosity towards the US.