Russia’s Gold Deficit Shows Us What’s Wrong
by Celestine Bohlen
March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Russia is in a funk. Its performance at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver was its worst ever, and its economy suffered more last year than any other nation in the Group of 20.
This is no coincidence, as the old Communist newspaper Pravda used to say. These failures are linked, and they have to do with a political system that has sucked the air out of the country. State companies control much of the economy, a single party rules the airwaves, and an overbearing, corrupt bureaucracy twists laws and stifles initiative.
None of this is good for business and, as it turns out, it isn’t good for sport. If Russia wants to go for gold it will have to shed a system that operates from the top down...
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Comment: Communism has not only destroyed the Russian economy, even worse, the lasting legacy of Communism is the destruction of the Russian soul. The first step in order to dispel the ghosts of the past is the full confrontation with the past evils. It is up for the Western World War II allies of the Soviet Union to help Russia now in this process. The first step would be to admit that the West's war alliance with Stalin was a band with the devil.
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