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The biggest problem with the Soviet Union was Brezhnev not being able to keep with his economic reforms after 1974. Seeing Russia nowadays it is sometimes hard

The biggest problem with the Soviet Union was Brezhnev not being able to keep with his economic reforms after 1974. Seeing Russia nowadays it is sometimes hard to believe that once they were the second economy in the world, before being removed from this post by Japan. Had they enacted Chinese style reforms they could have avoided the whole disastrous 90s

cmrdporcupine 4y ago
Even with market reforms, I think they would have fallen victim to the addiction to energy revenues that's poisoned so many energy exporting economies. Breeds corruption, croneyism, and discourages investment in other industries. Maybe Norway is the only exception.
LBJsPNS 4y ago
They tried. Gorbachev wanted to turn Russia into another Sweden. Bush the Elder convinced the World Bank not to loan to them unless they agreed to impose neoliberal economic policies. Which led to oligarchy. And then Putin.
- taxicabjesus 4y ago
  What is "And then Putin" supposed to mean? Perhaps you mean that Mr. Putin is implementing Gorbachev's goal of "turning Russia into another Sweden", which was blocked by Bush the Elder and the collective west's looting of Russia in the post-Soviet period? My dad hates Mr. Putin because the television tells him Putin is a war criminal. Other sources say Mr. Putin is the moderate who keeps the extremists in the Kremlin under control. That Russia fought in Ukraine with 9 fingers tied behind its back until it realized that there was no way to get the West to respect Russia's red line of Ukraine not being admitted into NATO. Someone on twitter said Russia's transition from 'preserve Ukraine's Soviet-era infrastructure' to 'destroy NATO's proxy army' was in September [0]. Russia didn't gave Ukraine's power grid the "shock and awe" treatment until November. [0] https://imetatronink.substack.com/p/turning-point https://imetatronink.substack.com/p/turning-point & various tweets - https://twitter.com/imetatronink https://twitter.com/imetatronink "[Putin] was a Lt. Col doing a mundane job in Dresden, Germany when the wall came down. He came back to St. Petersburg, Unemployed. He drove a taxi for a while. Got a job with Mayor Sochek's office, and anybody who dealt with him... said he was the most honest man he ever dealt with. ... He inherited a nation that had just undergone a decade of devastation, brought on by the west. But did he hate the west? No. He actually started his first years in office, trying to court the west, trying to come up with normalcy in economic relations. ... 2007 speech to the Munich security conference... The reality that the west is anti-Russia." Scott Riter, https://twitter.com/thatdayin1992/status/1583749384486891520 https://twitter.com/thatdayin1992/status/1583749384486891520 (emphasis added) "Vladimir Putin is a Russian patriot, a moderate European-leaning leader who rescued Russia from the abyss. in Russia, he is not considered charismatic. He is supported because of Russia's economic and spiritual recovery. The Neocons hate Putin because they hate Russia." - https://twitter.com/DietHeartNews/status/1605275170138214425 https://twitter.com/DietHeartNews/status/1605275170138214425 Thought this video on Putin was interesting: https://rumble.com/vxm7sv-president-2015-documentary.html https://rumble.com/vxm7sv-president-2015-documentary.html Just curious what you meant.
  - Panzer04 4y ago
    It's a shame he blew all that up, then. Whatever he might have been before, it doesn't really matter now.
  - Jataman606 4y ago
    Your "source" is calling Zelensky "the Imperial Puppet" and "comedian"[0], which makes me think it's probably even more biased towards Russia than western media are towards Ukraine. [0] https://twitter.com/imetatronink/status/1605389284369784832 https://twitter.com/imetatronink/status/1605389284369784832
    - taxicabjesus 4y ago
      My understanding is Ukraine was ready to negotiate with Russia by April 2022. Boris Johnson, the former UK prime minister, went to visit [0] around April 9 2022. Thenceforth Zelensky seems to have understood that Ukraine was to fight to the last Ukrainian. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/apr/09/boris-johnson-meets-volodymyr-zelenskiy-in-unannounced-visit-to-kyiv https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/apr/09/boris-johns...
      - _kbh_ 4y ago
        What actually happened is Ukraine retook Bucha and then when Ukraine saw what Russians did k Bucha they decided negotiations were over. I don’t blame them either why would you negotiate with the army that’s raping and torturing your civilians?. There’s no point to negotiation with Russia anyway they don’t abide by international agreements unless it benefits them and even they may break them later. Any peace outside of an absolute Russian defeat would be temporary and just allow Russia to invade again later.
        sysoleg 4y ago
        Zelensky after Bucha ("No Other Choice Than To Talk"): https://www.rferl.org/a/un-zelenskiy-war-crimes-bucha/31786382.html https://www.rferl.org/a/un-zelenskiy-war-crimes-bucha/317863...
cat_plus_plus 4y ago
The hallmark of central planning is that the more technology advances, the more your economy falls apart due to the impossibility of calculating every detail centrally. Good read on the subject: https://www.amazon.com/Red-Plenty-Francis-Spufford/dp/1555976042 https://www.amazon.com/Red-Plenty-Francis-Spufford/dp/155597...
- jyriand 4y ago
  Also known as "Socialist calculation debate"[1]. 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_calculation_debate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_calculation_debate
- elzbardico 4y ago
  The whole point of Brezhnev reforms was decentralizing and using market signals instead of pure central planning.
  - thefringthing 4y ago
    I have always wondered about why the Yugoslav system of market socialism didn't succeed. It sounds like Brezhnev was trying to move toward that model.

cmrdporcupine 4y ago

Even with market reforms, I think they would have fallen victim to the addiction to energy revenues that's poisoned so many energy exporting economies. Breeds corruption, croneyism, and discourages investment in other industries. Maybe Norway is the only exception.

LBJsPNS 4y ago

They tried. Gorbachev wanted to turn Russia into another Sweden. Bush the Elder convinced the World Bank not to loan to them unless they agreed to impose neoliberal economic policies. Which led to oligarchy. And then Putin.

taxicabjesus 4y ago
What is "And then Putin" supposed to mean? Perhaps you mean that Mr. Putin is implementing Gorbachev's goal of "turning Russia into another Sweden", which was blocked by Bush the Elder and the collective west's looting of Russia in the post-Soviet period? My dad hates Mr. Putin because the television tells him Putin is a war criminal. Other sources say Mr. Putin is the moderate who keeps the extremists in the Kremlin under control. That Russia fought in Ukraine with 9 fingers tied behind its back until it realized that there was no way to get the West to respect Russia's red line of Ukraine not being admitted into NATO. Someone on twitter said Russia's transition from 'preserve Ukraine's Soviet-era infrastructure' to 'destroy NATO's proxy army' was in September [0]. Russia didn't gave Ukraine's power grid the "shock and awe" treatment until November. [0] https://imetatronink.substack.com/p/turning-point https://imetatronink.substack.com/p/turning-point & various tweets - https://twitter.com/imetatronink https://twitter.com/imetatronink "[Putin] was a Lt. Col doing a mundane job in Dresden, Germany when the wall came down. He came back to St. Petersburg, Unemployed. He drove a taxi for a while. Got a job with Mayor Sochek's office, and anybody who dealt with him... said he was the most honest man he ever dealt with. ... He inherited a nation that had just undergone a decade of devastation, brought on by the west. But did he hate the west? No. He actually started his first years in office, trying to court the west, trying to come up with normalcy in economic relations. ... 2007 speech to the Munich security conference... The reality that the west is anti-Russia." Scott Riter, https://twitter.com/thatdayin1992/status/1583749384486891520 https://twitter.com/thatdayin1992/status/1583749384486891520 (emphasis added) "Vladimir Putin is a Russian patriot, a moderate European-leaning leader who rescued Russia from the abyss. in Russia, he is not considered charismatic. He is supported because of Russia's economic and spiritual recovery. The Neocons hate Putin because they hate Russia." - https://twitter.com/DietHeartNews/status/1605275170138214425 https://twitter.com/DietHeartNews/status/1605275170138214425 Thought this video on Putin was interesting: https://rumble.com/vxm7sv-president-2015-documentary.html https://rumble.com/vxm7sv-president-2015-documentary.html Just curious what you meant.
- Panzer04 4y ago
  It's a shame he blew all that up, then. Whatever he might have been before, it doesn't really matter now.
- Jataman606 4y ago
  Your "source" is calling Zelensky "the Imperial Puppet" and "comedian"[0], which makes me think it's probably even more biased towards Russia than western media are towards Ukraine. [0] https://twitter.com/imetatronink/status/1605389284369784832 https://twitter.com/imetatronink/status/1605389284369784832
  - taxicabjesus 4y ago
    My understanding is Ukraine was ready to negotiate with Russia by April 2022. Boris Johnson, the former UK prime minister, went to visit [0] around April 9 2022. Thenceforth Zelensky seems to have understood that Ukraine was to fight to the last Ukrainian. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/apr/09/boris-johnson-meets-volodymyr-zelenskiy-in-unannounced-visit-to-kyiv https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/apr/09/boris-johns...
    - _kbh_ 4y ago
      What actually happened is Ukraine retook Bucha and then when Ukraine saw what Russians did k Bucha they decided negotiations were over. I don’t blame them either why would you negotiate with the army that’s raping and torturing your civilians?. There’s no point to negotiation with Russia anyway they don’t abide by international agreements unless it benefits them and even they may break them later. Any peace outside of an absolute Russian defeat would be temporary and just allow Russia to invade again later.
      - sysoleg 4y ago
        Zelensky after Bucha ("No Other Choice Than To Talk"): https://www.rferl.org/a/un-zelenskiy-war-crimes-bucha/31786382.html https://www.rferl.org/a/un-zelenskiy-war-crimes-bucha/317863...

cat_plus_plus 4y ago

The hallmark of central planning is that the more technology advances, the more your economy falls apart due to the impossibility of calculating every detail centrally. Good read on the subject: https://www.amazon.com/Red-Plenty-Francis-Spufford/dp/1555976042 https://www.amazon.com/Red-Plenty-Francis-Spufford/dp/155597...

jyriand 4y ago
Also known as "Socialist calculation debate"[1]. 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_calculation_debate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_calculation_debate
elzbardico 4y ago
The whole point of Brezhnev reforms was decentralizing and using market signals instead of pure central planning.
- thefringthing 4y ago
  I have always wondered about why the Yugoslav system of market socialism didn't succeed. It sounds like Brezhnev was trying to move toward that model.