Word: russianness
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Search the attic! Check behind the wallpaper! Lucky scavengers may discover a small fortune in Russian bonds issued during World War I by the government of Czar Nicholas II. For 70 years, the IOUs have scarcely been worth the ornate paper they were printed on. Reason: a year after shooting the imperial family, the Soviet revolutionary government repudiated $192 million in the hands of U.S. bondholders. But last week the State Department said U.S. and Soviet officials have started negotiating a repayment of the Czarist loans. Including interest, the settlement could reach $900 million...
...repayment negotiations are being closely watched by officials in New Hampshire, which owns $10,000 in Russian bonds dating back to the 1820s. With interest they could be worth $300,000 today...
That assessment, if anything, understates the level of disillusionment. Soviet products that have often been in short supply, like meat and butter, are scarcer than ever this year. In the Russian Republic, the Soviet region that is home to about half the country's population, meat available at state stores is so scarce that 1 out of every 3 consumers obtains a ration card to ensure a supply. Now, however, everyday items like good shoes and toilet paper are also missing from the shelves. Shoppers in Moscow are queuing for laundry detergent, and last week the capital was virtually bereft...
...lend themselves to quick solutions. When sugar suddenly grew scarce 18 months ago, most consumers blamed Gorbachev's antialcoholism drive, which diverted substantial quantities of the commodity into home brewing. Authorities have somewhat relaxed their original strictures on liquor production, but sugar is still rationed in 67 of the Russian Republic's 86 administrative districts. Other goods that are frequently hard to find: good cheese, coffee, chocolate, fresh fruit and bath towels. "Fruit and vegetables have always been scarce in the Russian winter," said a gray- haired man shopping on Moscow's Kutuzovsky Prospekt. "But it's worse than ever...
...planners of perestroika are baffled," says Marshall Shulman, professor emeritus of Russian studies at Columbia University. "They don't know how to proceed because they found the economic situation far worse than their worst expectations. They are searching for new ways, but without luck so far." Price reform, perhaps the key element in perestroika's ultimate success, has been postponed until at least...