[PEN-L:5161] Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: random thoughts on the slaughter

[Dennis R Redmond <dredmond@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, 12 Apr 1999, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:

> It doesn't seem to do so, in the post-socialist Eastern Europe. (In fact,
> just the opposite.) The Balkan civil wars illustrate why capitalism is not
> at all 'progressive' there.

Then what about the Visegrad countries, with their still-extensive welfare
states, civil rights protections, and fairly high trade union density? My
point is, we've got to somehow grasp all these things in a larger context:
Visegrad is where Eurocapital is seeing decent returns, so obviously it'll
be rewarded with loan writeoffs and fresh credit, while the Balkans is
obviously being consigned to the Europeriphery, along with Russia.
Thinking this stuff through is crucial for any long-term Left strategy in
the East, not to mention the project of a Euroleft.

-- Dennis