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03-01-04
I'm not talking about the situation post-1991, I'm talking about the situation between about 1987 and 1991, when the problem of gangsterism was not really an issue. The problem there was one of adjustment. Having had a controlled economy for so long it was the sudden changes, in some ways swift and in some ways incomplete, that caused problems. I'm not saying that the free market per se was the cause of Russian economic collapse, it was its botched introduction. The Chinese clearly learnt a lesson or two and have done the economic transition incredibly effectively. |