Television tax benefits India

[AtW]

Al Jazeera seems to be doing quite nicely.

Yes and they achieved CNN like status because they say the truth.

Freedom radio that was broadcasting over USSR played key role in its peaceful demise - just think how much money it saved and stop bitching about small amounts, better look at how much is wasted in all other places and deal with that big problems first.

[mcquiggd]

Yes and they achieved CNN like status because they say the truth.

Id say it was more like Fox - they tell their target audience what they want to hear.

Freedom radio that was broadcasting over USSR played key role in its peaceful demise - just think how much money it saved and stop bitching about small amounts, better look at how much is wasted in all other places and deal with that big problems first.

Freedom Radio had no impact at all on the fall of communism... economic devastation caused by trying to compete with the West in military terms was the underlying cause. Reagan simply outspent the USSR until it went bankrupt trying to keep up.

People wanted food, and jobs.

They still do.

[AtW]

Listen, I know better what had impact because I actually was there at the time and I think between us two I have better economical education, ok?

In a lieing through their teeth state of USSR having Freedom radio was totally essential - authoritarian regimes can hold on for a lot of time without complete military merit, Star Wars had barely any effect - dropped price of oil had much more to do with the economic problems.

[mcquiggd]

Listen, I know better what had impact because I actually was there at the time and I think between us two I have better economical education, ok?

Why? You don't listen to me as someone who has lived in the UK for 37 years since birth when I discuss UK issues...

In a lieing through their teeth state of USSR having Freedom radio was totally essential - authoritarian regimes can hold on for a lot of time without complete military merit, Star Wars had barely any effect - dropped price of oil had much more to do with the economic problems.

Apparently it is a common feeling that Gorbachev, implementing peristroika and glasnost too rapidly, to combat the stagnation of the Russian economy which Reagan had caused or at the very least accelerated by starting an arms race the Russians could not afford, also contributed to the Downfall. Look at the state of the Russian armed forces now. All those vast projects now reduced to rusting hulks. Why were they implemented in the first place, rather than using those billions to improve the economy?

I do not believe people needed to listen to Freedom Radio to know there had no food and no money.

The irony is that now Putin is flexing economic muscle with regard to energy supplies... if Russia had used its natural resources rather than military might we may well have had a very different continent than we do today....

[AtW]

The year before Gorbachev were "stagnation" but they were referred to as "golden days" because all was nice and quiet, deficit was not that accute: price of oil was very high back then.

Look at historical oil prices here: http://www.wtrg.com/oil_graphs/oilprice1947.gif

(this reminds me again how sucks it is not to be able to inline images!).

Notice how good were the year from 73 to 83 - then big drop and USSR was in deep sh1t, note another drop in 1998 - this was major financial crisis which actually resulted in me immigrating permanently, now look at how high prices of oil again - and this is why Putin is so boastful, but he won't be when oil gets down to $20.

Freedom radio played important role because during the collapse you need to have people who are active and suggest the right stuff - basically take the country into the right direction like Eltsin did in 1991, it could have went completely different way - KGB control, well, just like it is now, but at the time he took the right move and people who wanted truth and heard Radio Freedom made the difference.

Now look at Iraq - previous regime crumbled but people had no idea where to take country, so they took it into chaos.