298f2fb2   
   XPost: soc.culture.baltics, soc.culture.czecho-slovak, soc.culture.russian   
   XPost: soc.culture.nordic   
   From: anton.usenet@gmail.com   
      
   David Friedman kirjoitti:   
   > In article <5fnlk.44302$_03.22569@reader1.news.saunalahti.fi>,   
   >  "J. Anderson"  wrote:   
      
   >> As far as values are concerned, Finland bought raw materials at lower than   
   >> world market prices and sold manufactured goods and construction projects at   
   >> higher prices than it could get on the western markets.   
      
   > 1. Can you provide any support for that claim? So far all we have are   
   > claims on both sides.   
      
   > 2. Why would the Soviets choose to trade on those terms, instead of   
   > selling their raw materials on the world market and buying manufactured   
   > goods on the world market?   
      
   It was politically questionable for both the western and eastern bloc to   
   become "good buddies" in trade. If trade had flourished between the USSR   
   and NATO west neither side could any longer have been able to demonize   
   one another, and their military machines in Europe could have been hard   
   to justify. If they generally were very suspicious of each other it   
   makes sense that they did not want to get too much involved in trade   
   either. I also find it credible that ideology-driven communists weren't   
   that skilled at economics and trade in a way that they could act at   
   their own best interests, which makes the claim that Finns got the   
   longer straw from it credible. That's my 2 cents.   
      
   > Are you arguing that the Soviets were bribing   
   > the Finns in order to get the Finns to provide either support for Soviet   
   > policy or an example of how safe it was to be outside the western   
   > alliance or both?   
   >   
      
   I can't speak of the behalf of Johnny, Eugene or anybody else. My guess   
   is: a little of both, and that they could use us as a proxy for their   
   political initiatives.   
      
   --   
   Anton   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)