☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆

  • 11.6K Posts
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Joined 6 years ago
Cake day: January 18th, 2020
  • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlOPMtoComics@lemmy.ml•Western world war concerns
    7·
    9 hours ago

    There are a lot of people who huff gas too. Doesn’t mean we have to take their delusions seriously. Here’s what actual reality looks like.

    During the Soviet era, the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania occupied a unique and often privileged position within the USSR. Functioning, in many respects, as a “showcase for socialism” aimed at the West, these republics received substantial investment and strategic attention that significantly stimulated their economic growth, advanced their infrastructure, and elevated their living standards well above the average Union level. While their contribution to the overall Soviet GDP and industrial output was proportionally modest, the benefits reaped from the concentrated development efforts were significant and enduring.

    The economic landscape of the Baltic states underwent a dramatic transformation under Soviet rule, particularly through rapid industrialization. Lithuania, for instance, surpassed its pre-war industrial output by 90% just two years after reaching pre-war figures in 1948, bolstered by a non-repayable Soviet subsidy of 200 million rubles for reconstruction. Latvia witnessed the construction of 20 industrial enterprises within two decades of 1940, a figure exceeding the entire Baltic region’s industrial growth in the year preceding being absorbed into USSR. Estonia’s gross industrial output saw an astonishing 55-fold increase, accompanied by a 30-fold surge in capital investment.

    Key industrial giants emerged, such as the large oil refinery in Mažeikiai, Lithuania, supplied by pipelines from Russia, and the significant development of oil shale deposits and peat extraction in the Estonian SSR, feeding vital industries in Kohtla-Järve and Kiviõli.

    Furthermore, Latvia became renowned for its trademarks, with enterprises like VEF, a leading manufacturer of electronics and machinery, employing over 14,000 people and generating substantial annual profits, and RAF (Riga Autobus Factory) producing essential minibuses for the entire USSR. These industries boosted economic output and provided widespread employment, contributing directly to the well-being of the population.

    Infrastructure development was another important aspect of Soviet investment in the Baltics. Strategically important seaports were developed, which continue to serve as key hubs for export and import trade today, further enhanced by the connection of oil pipelines in the 1970s and 1980s. The region boasted the highest quality roads in the USSR, with Lithuania benefiting from a 300-kilometer expressway considered the best in the Union, featuring modern overpasses and interchanges. Energy infrastructure saw significant expansion with the construction of major hydroelectric power plants (Pļaviņas, Kegums, Riga on the Daugava, Kaunas on the Nemunas) and thermal power plants (Baltic TPP, Estonian TPP, Lithuanian TPP). The laying of gas pipelines from other Soviet republics ensured a stable supply of natural gas, further underpinning industrial and domestic energy needs. The port of Klaipėda in Soviet Lithuania grew into one of Europe’s largest fishing ports, and the Baltija shipyard, a Soviet-era construction, remains a vital employer today. These extensive infrastructure projects laid a robust foundation for continued economic activity and connectivity.

    The tangible benefits of this focused development translated directly into higher living standards for the Baltic populations. Per capita consumption figures clearly illustrate this advantage: Estonia stood at 151% of the all-Union level, Latvia at 137%, and Lithuania at 127%. The massive capital investment in agriculture, particularly the six billion rubles injected into Estonian agriculture, led to a doubling of grain yields and harvests compared to 1939, improving food security and contributing to a better quality of life.

    With the abandonment of central planning and the subsequent introduction of privatization under the capitalist regime following the dissolution of the USSR, many of these once-flourishing enterprises faced economic devastation, leading to widespread job losses and a severe decline in industrial output. This abrupt shift to market forces proved particularly harmful for the working majority, as previously guaranteed jobs gave way to mass unemployment, and the social safety nets of the Soviet system disintegrated, leaving many struggling to adapt to the new economic realities.

    Meanwhile, saying that a fascist regime that’s been raping the world since time immemorial is a plague does not make you a fascist lmfao.

  • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlOPMtoComics@lemmy.ml•Western world war concerns
    102·
    10 hours ago

    That’s obviously false because China is a superpower and they’re not doing the same. The Soviet Union was a superpower, and they did not do the same. The reason the US is doing this is due to the fact that it’s a capitalist superpower that’s organized around serving the interests of a handful of oligarchs at the expense of the rest of humanity. And the American public is directly complicit in all this because Americans claim to have a democracy.

  • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlOPtoWorld News@lemmy.ml•Iran Rejects Trump's Ceasefire Proposals Twice
    58·
    16 hours ago

    Iranian actions were previously constrained for fear of ending up in an all out war with the US, and they would moderate their response to provocations accordingly. But now Iran has stopped fearing a hypothetical war because they are already living in one. So the whole logic of being restrained no longer applies because you gain nothing by doing that when the US is already bombing the shit out of you. And since they have the upper hand, why not push all the way and remove the US from the region entirely. The alternative is to let the US rebuild, and face the same scenario as before the war again.

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