No Contest: Russia Wins This Cold War
MOSCOW — "Even in Russia, the recent blizzards that have hit Washington have been noticed. Though not always sympathetically. Were Congress and other powerful institutions really closed, not to mention the schools? Did panicked residents actually strip stores of food, making the bare shelves resemble something from the Soviet era? All because of the snow?
Russia, mindful that it trails the United States in many measures, tends to leap at any chance to promote its supremacy, and when it comes to wintry hardiness, there is, of course, no contest. This is one cold war that Russia wins."
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It gets worse:
President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday ordered the Cabinet to sell off more government stakes in successful companies to private investors over the next two years.
The Cabinet must submit proposals for increasing the number of “major … strategic companies that are attractive for investment” in its privatization plan by March 15, the Kremlin said on its web site.
The current plan, which Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed in November, already seeks the sale of stakes in several strategic companies, such as shipper Sovkomflot. Medvedev has the responsibility of striking these companies off the list of strategic assets for the stakes to change hands. He hasn’t approved their exclusion as yet.
Medvedev’s order for a greater sale of key assets comes after he conferred with officials last week about ways to encourage investment — and as the government is facing a budget deficit for a second straight year.
Medvedev also instructed the Cabinet to come up with a proposal to punish more severely those bureaucrats that hamper investment, probably targeting those engaged in corruption. The Kremlin didn’t elaborate on the measure.
Moscow Times
While Obama and the Democrats are busy trying to nationalize huge swaths of our economy, Russia is pushing further privatization and threatening to "punish more severely those bureaucrats that hamper investment". The world is truly upside down.
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