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Is there a scenario you can envision where the Soviet Union didn't devolve into a mafia state? Or is that the most stable equilibrium given its history?
by aswanson 8y ago
Is there a scenario you can envision where the Soviet Union didn't devolve into a mafia state? Or is that the most stable equilibrium given its history?
- pjc50 8y agoWell, other former communist states did better, such as Poland, Romania, the Baltics, Hungary. The problem was really that the prize was too big. Russia had the oil production. That made it worthwhile doing whatever was necessary to steal control of the money flowing from it. (Perhaps a more salient question is how and whether the US can be prevented from turning into a mafia state; will the ongoing prosecution roll up the network, or will the network roll up the prosecution?)