Russia Still In The Old Era

While reading Itar, Russian News, I noticed 2 headlines that caught me a little bit surprised. MEDVEDEV SAYS RUSSIAN SHOULDN'T DEPEND ON IMPORTS FOR MEDICINE and the other BELARUS, RUSSIA PARTIALLY RESOLVE "MILK PROBLEM".

For a major player in world politics and a major controller of over half of the nuclear weapons on this planet, I had forgotten that the Soviet Union collapsed due to economic woes. Their system of quasi-capitalism and socialism is still trying to develop and maintain a workable economy. Struggling with purchasing 'western technologies' for medicine and medical instruments' isn't helping the local economy in the long run. All imported items, from medicines and machines must be paid for and this cash is leaving the Russian system. They may have the worlds largest oil fields, but they are lacking in even the basics.

The agreement with Belarus over 'milk production and shipments' reminded me of the 1960s when I would see the farm bureau reports first thing in the morning before going off to school. Seeing anything about milk production agreements means there isn't that much production to be shared. I wonder how bad things can really be? There was a broadcast on national news about the older citizens going to special shops to purchase 'outdated food products'. The people interviewed were not altogether disappointed as these products were in fact cheaper and they had experienced this situation during the Cold War.

While Putin and Medevdev are ramping up their military arms and weapons again, they seem to be following the same agenda during the Cold War. Swords instead of plowshares... ...lakotahope