From Moscow to Beijing: A journey from past to future - World AP - MiamiHerald.com
As I know ,Russia's per capita GDP in 2008 was over 10,000 dollars and all Russians enjoy free medicare and education up to high school level.But it seems everyone likes to Belittle Russia。I think Russians should have a happy life because they are rich enough。But why in my mind thay still have a hard time,do I have suffered the impact of the Communist Party propaganda or my idea about Russia has become obsolete?
BEIJING -- For passengers flying between Moscow and Beijing, the takeoff and landing are worlds apart.
On one end is the Russian capital's shabby, dimly lit Sheremetyevo airport, where the cigarette smoke can be thick and the seating scanty. At the other is Beijing's new $3.8 billion Terminal 3, a place of soaring glass walls, trickling fountains and an undulating roof meant to resemble a dragon in flight.
When crude oil prices were high - hitting a record $147 a barrel last summer - Russia was awash with petro-dollars and boasting of remaking the world order. With the price of crude now down by half, the economy is battered, and the Russian government acknowledges that it's at a "dead end."
Chinese exports slowed from the period of red-hot expansion, but the country has proved to be a massive economic engine, perhaps able to lead the world out of recession.
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The problem comes from the top, said Valery Solovey, an analyst with the Gorbachev Foundation, a liberal research center in Moscow.
"They did not - and do not - love their country and its people, and they have been focused on robbing them," Solovey said. "All post-Soviet governments viewed the country as a colony. ... In Russia, no one thinks about the future. Everyone wants to make quick money and would, without much hesitation, kill a hen which lays golden eggs."
Of course, some analysts in Beijing and Moscow question the sustainability of China's upward climb. Can its growth continue when a $585 billion stimulus package ends next year? Will the country be able to shift from exports to domestic consumption?
Still, in Beijing these days there's little chance that anyone in China's leadership would want to switch places with the Russians.
On one end is the Russian capital's shabby, dimly lit Sheremetyevo airport, where the cigarette smoke can be thick and the seating scanty. At the other is Beijing's new $3.8 billion Terminal 3, a place of soaring glass walls, trickling fountains and an undulating roof meant to resemble a dragon in flight.
When crude oil prices were high - hitting a record $147 a barrel last summer - Russia was awash with petro-dollars and boasting of remaking the world order. With the price of crude now down by half, the economy is battered, and the Russian government acknowledges that it's at a "dead end."
Chinese exports slowed from the period of red-hot expansion, but the country has proved to be a massive economic engine, perhaps able to lead the world out of recession.
.....
The problem comes from the top, said Valery Solovey, an analyst with the Gorbachev Foundation, a liberal research center in Moscow.
"They did not - and do not - love their country and its people, and they have been focused on robbing them," Solovey said. "All post-Soviet governments viewed the country as a colony. ... In Russia, no one thinks about the future. Everyone wants to make quick money and would, without much hesitation, kill a hen which lays golden eggs."
Of course, some analysts in Beijing and Moscow question the sustainability of China's upward climb. Can its growth continue when a $585 billion stimulus package ends next year? Will the country be able to shift from exports to domestic consumption?
Still, in Beijing these days there's little chance that anyone in China's leadership would want to switch places with the Russians.
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