XPost: soc.culture.baltics, soc.culture.czecho-slovak, soc.culture.russian   
   From: kurkku@hassuserveri.fi   
      
   "James A. Donald"  kirjoitti   
   viestissä:isps941vrv1181qmgolcc46g4eq6oe5655@4ax.com...   
   > Eugene Holman:   
   >> The Finns were trading as capitalists, with profit in   
   >> the monetary sense as the ultimate criterion for   
   >> judging whether what they were doing was rational or   
   >> not.   
   >   
   > Firstly it was not businessmen making these decisions   
   >   
   Businessmen were very much involved and took part in decision making. Psycho   
   therapy might do good for you. You are mentally very ill.   
      
   > Secondly, if the trade profitable, why only conducted in   
   > this manner with a country the Soviets could threaten   
   > and which had previously submitted to threats.  If   
   > profitable to Finland, why could the Soviets not make   
   > similar deals with countries that did not have Soviet   
   > troops just across their border that might come in   
   > unopposed at any moment?   
   >   
   It was very profitable to the Finns. There is no need to rationalize.  It   
   was a matter of capacity (the barter trade machinery was a bit laborious to   
   steer) and above all political. I guess Russians might have been interested   
   in implementing trade relations on such basis.   
      
   In general Finns utilized the post war political world setting while many   
   others didn't survive as good. Look at the war prone USA for instance. It   
   wasted enormous amounts of money in "fighting against communist". Korea was   
   a partial success. Since then it has been  a down hill road. Giant   
   investments to wage wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq. Giant investments to   
   be "alert". Giant investments to make a point to the Soviets that we also   
   have military hardware even if not as much as you have. Americans have   
   fought "communism" in Nicaragua, Cuba, Chile and Grenada (in Grenada they   
   trooped in a lavatory and occupied it - aaah! what a relief! It eased   
   pressure).   
      
   Americans have spent more than one thousand billion (10 to the power of 12)   
   dollars for military aggressions in Iraq alone since 2003. That makes about   
   3300 dollars for each American.   
      
   The recent housing crisis will bring down dozens of banks and real estates   
   will lose thousands of billions of dollars in their value. The  economy is   
   in turmoil. We just wait for the last push over the edge.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)