Russia's 'oil sickness' erodes urgency for reform, critics say

[unhappycamper]

http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-russia-oil-economy-20140406,0,3660886.story



The view from the highest point of the $1-billion bridge connecting Vladivostok with Russky Island.

Russia's 'oil sickness' erodes urgency for reform, critics say
By Carol J. Williams
April 6, 2014, 8:00 a.m.

MOSCOW — It can take Moscow residents two hours in dense traffic to drive the first 10 miles on the highway to St. Petersburg, in the direction of their country cottages surrounded by lakes and birch groves. Then the road's real limitations become apparent.

The potholed two-lane route connecting Russia's two largest cities has never been upgraded into a proper highway. Anyone who cares to drive its entire 440-mile length — mostly truckers — will need at least 12 hours.

But 5,600 miles away, the government spent more than $1 billion on less than a mile of bridge connecting Vladivostok with Russky Island, previously inhabited only by a military garrison so isolated that four soldiers starved to death in 1992. An additional $5 billion was lavished on the speck of land to host the 2012 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, including a new university campus and an as-yet-unfinished presidential residence.

Visions of a North Pacific tourist destination have proved illusory, however. Few people care to vacation in a place where the temperature is below freezing half the year.

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This is Russia's "Bridge To Nowhere".

[House of Roberts]

1. One thing I remember while I was running a business.

Never spend money on things that don't generate a return on investment right away.