Did you see the movie, "Russia House", with Sean Connery and Melanie Griffith? If so, do you remember where Darley and the Russian woman and her children were on top of the hill looking down and toward Moscow and the River? An iinteresting place to sit. You see, that river is used for Barge Traffic as well as having a few Rail Lines paralleling it on into the City.

In the late seventies (1970's) myself and another person sat on the very bench (it had to be, they never change anything there, replace maybe, change never) that overlooks that scene and between ourselves came to the conclusion, "These people are bankrupt and can't even feed themselves". It did not take even an especially intelligent person to work that out if he just understood what he was seeing, or not seeing, as the case came to be. It was the NOT seeing that impressed me the most; barge traffic almost nil, rail traffic almost nil (in a three hour period of time, one short train went into the city), trucks NOT in abundance, autos ditto, in short, I did not see the normal traffic required for the distribution of goods and services that would be found in almost any country in the world. In our day and age, traffic is everything. If you don't have it you don't have anything else. Por nada!

Notwithstanding the previous paragraph, the idiotic currency/monetary exchange between the Ruble and the Dollar was a joke and everyone knew it. The official rate was one (1)Ruble to one(1)Dollar! The black market rate was 2000 rubles to 1 dollar! Some difference between the "official" and the "real", would'nt you say? In those days, everyone who went into the Soviet Union was required to exchange SOME currency but after that initial extortion we went strictly by the UNOFFICIAL rate. Who would'nt? No worries about the illegality of the Black Market, no one was going to be arrested for such a thing even at that late date because if they clamped down on that "crime" then the country would'nt/could'nt get anything done.

There was, in those days, a place named Prospeckt Park in Moscow, where the Soviets put up examples of their Triumphs of Technology and such for the edification of the Rubes. I went there once, with a Russian Interpreter, who explained to me (the visiting not-too-bright Capitalist Tool) in great detail the great capabilities of the Motherland. At one of the displays there was an interactive (?) thing going where one could push a button and a movie with voice-over
could be heard/seen concerning the Mir space-station or some such thing. I pushed the button and NOTHING happened. Pushed again, same result. She, the Iinterpreter, did not even have the good grace to be embarrassed; she only said, "We can build anything, but we do have trouble maintaining things because there is no money allocated for such a function". No maintenance? No shit! That little remark spoke volumes about the "State of the Union (of Soviet Socialist Republics)" and I nodded my head wisely, in response to her obvious pride of place and accomplishment.

I always carried a British made Electric Shaver in those days when I travelled because electrical current in the UK is 240 volt with a couple of switch setting's (and a really valuable converter) for use in other countries, the USA for example. Moscow current is different from some of the outlying districts of that City; it is also different from some other cities (Kiev, Rostov, etc), not all, but some of them, and that in itself is an eye-opener to a thinking outsider.

Just think, in this incredibly modern (?), up-to-date World Power one cannot get his shaver to work in all cases because electricity is NOT STANDARDIZED within the country! Amazing! But this observation is not original with me, it was well known to anyone who went there for any reason in those days. You say you want the NEW electric DRILL you bought in Moscow to work in Volgagrad (old name Stalingrad)? Good luck, Comrade.

I believe a whole battery of events caused the collapse of the Workers Paradise. I could probably sit here and write a short book on the obvious problems and non-solutions one could find in the Motherland but I will not; it has already been done better than I could do it (maybe) but in any event , in almost any area of a normal civilizaton one would care to investigate, they were on the "edge/verge" for at least 20-25 years before the final straw broke the camel's back.

Understand, not bragging, but I was that wierdo who did not have any fear of the Soviets invading or conquering Europe, attacking the USA, nor anyone else. Afghanistan? Who gave a rat's ass, anyway? As anyone who had ever read History knew, the Afghani's were a nation of murderer's and thieves and no one was going to change them no matter what they did. Do you know what the Muslim call Afghanistan? They call it, "The Land Of Cain". Yep, Cain, as in Cain and Abel of the Biblical story. The Muslim know the story, too. Everyone I associated with said I was badly off base and had been reading too many Science Fiction scenario's for my own good but I still persisted in my view until the Great KRASCHE came. Besides, who the hell asked me for my opinion about such things, anyway?

You do get the picture, don't you? Elementary, my dear Watson, he said explicitly!!

:hat