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Old 10-09-2020, 09:22 PM
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StainlessSteelCynic StainlessSteelCynic is offline
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My personal belief is that the USSR just could not compete financially (along with the corruption of the system and a widespread cynicism possessed by the Russians, exemplified by the notion of "we'll pretend to work for as long as you pretend to pay us").
I believe the Chinese communist government was able to survive because China had mineral resources that the world needed (Rare Earth Elements) and was able to dominate the market rather quickly.

If the USSR had exploited it's own REE deposits, they would have been raking in the foreign currency. It's only now that Russia realises the potential for money making and are making serious efforts to mine those REEs in their territory.
But for the USSR, they were bleeding money and couldn't make it fast enough to replace the losses.

As mentioned elsewhere on this forum REEs are one of the crucial parts that makes the modern world what it is. They are a major component of any electronic device you can think of - medical, automotive, detection systems, communications and so on and so on.

Last edited by StainlessSteelCynic; 10-09-2020 at 09:23 PM. Reason: correcting "need" to "needed"
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