Having spoken to a few Russians\u00a0around the place about the flag that the Russian expedition has plonked beneath the North Pole, it is safe to say that almost all Russians are as proud as punch.\u00a0 And well they might be, given that it represents an impressive technological achievement.\u00a0 Presumably they consider this money well spent, and as far as I am concerned the Russians have the right to spend their collective money on whatever they wish.\u00a0 After all, it is nothing to do with me.<\/p>\n
But the sympathy I have for those who complain about the terrible state of the infrastructure in Russia, those who worry how\u00a0their parents will survive on meagre state pensions, and those who complain that the money from Sakhalin’s oil projects will bypass the island and end up in Moscow, is fast eroding.\u00a0 I’m sure there must have been a British visitor in Russia at the time of the Sputnik launch who found his sympathy with those queuing up for bread diminish a notch as he watched the crowds cheering at Russia’s triumph over the west.<\/p>\n
Governments usually get priorities wrong.\u00a0 But it is less usual for entire populations to do so as well, and so consistently.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Having spoken to a few Russians\u00a0around the place about the flag that the Russian expedition has plonked beneath the North Pole, it is safe to say that almost all Russians are as proud as punch.\u00a0 And well they might be, … Continue reading