The Russian Aerospace Industry is Rapidly Recovering

This about Economy, tagged , , was written by for on September 2, 2013 .9 Comments

More info against the Department of Russia Only Produces Oil and Vodka: Here are some graphs of Russian aerospace manufacturing courtesy of the Reality vs. Myths blog. (2013 figures are projections). Total helicopter construction has now basically converged with the levels of the late RSFSR. Aircraft construction is only halfway there, but its state is nonetheless leagues […]

Russians Produce 7 Cars For Every 10 They Buy

This about Economy, tagged , , , was written by for on March 28, 2013 .3 Comments

One common trope about the Russian economy is that it has virtually no manufacturing to speak of and lives off “oil rents” that can collapse any day. Whiles there is a small nugget of truth to this assertion, but by and large it is simply false. It is true that a great chunk of Russian […]

Russia Now Produces As Many Cars As The USSR Did At Its Peak

This about Economy, tagged , , , was written by for on February 25, 2013 .14 Comments

As I write the book, I create a lot of graphs. Here is one of them. So in manufacturing terms, as far as cars are concerned, the “deindustrialization” era is decidedly over. Of course it’s also important to note that in 1985 they were producing this whereas today they are producing this as well as various […]

China, The Last Superpower

This about Futurism, tagged , , , , , was written by for on February 7, 2010 .14 Comments

After two hundred years of global ascendancy, the West is in rapid relative decline to (re)emerging Asia, which is mounting a steady “Great Reconvergence”. Likewise, the legitimacy of today’s “neoliberal internationalist” order promoted by the West is being questioned by the more statist, neo-Westphalian visions of the leaders of the Rest, the so-called BRIC’s. This has already […]

Book Review: Ha-Joon Chang – Kicking Away the Ladder

This about Economy, tagged , , , , , was written by for , on October 19, 2009 .6 Comments

Chang, Ha-Joon – Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective (2002) Category: economy; history; industrial policy; Rating: 5/5 Summary: Kicking Away the Ladder:How the Economic and Intellectual Histories of Capitalism Have Been Re-Written to Justify Neo-Liberal Capitalism (Ha-Joon Chang) Much has been said of the smug arrogance, cultural aloofness and end-of-history conceit characterizing the […]

Book Review: John Scott – Behind the Urals

This about History, tagged , , was written by for , on September 3, 2009 .8 Comments

Scott, John – Behind the Urals: An American Worker in Russia’s City of Steel (1941) Category: history, Soviet Union, Stalin; Rating: 5/5 Fear and Fervor under Stalinist Industrialization The Great Depression of the 1930’s, with its iconic images of well-dressed bourgeoisie in soup lines and gaunt figures with hopeless eyes from the Dust Bowl, challenged the […]