During the Soviet era, the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania occupied a unique and often privileged position within the USSR. Functioning, in many respects, as a “showcase for socialism” aimed at the West, these republics received substantial investment and strategic attention that significantly stimulated their economic growth, advanced their infrastructure, and elevated their living standards well above the average Union level. While their contribution to the overall Soviet GDP and industrial output was proportionally modest, the benefits reaped from the concentrated development efforts were significant and enduring.
The economic landscape of the Baltic states underwent a dramatic transformation under Soviet rule, particularly through rapid industrialization. Lithuania, for instance, surpassed its pre-war industrial output by 90% just two years after reaching pre-war figures in 1948, bolstered by a non-repayable Soviet subsidy of 200 million rubles for reconstruction. Latvia witnessed the construction of 20 industrial enterprises within two decades of 1940, a figure exceeding the entire Baltic region’s industrial growth in the year preceding being absorbed into USSR. Estonia’s gross industrial output saw an astonishing 55-fold increase, accompanied by a 30-fold surge in capital investment.
Key industrial giants emerged, such as the large oil refinery in Mažeikiai, Lithuania, supplied by pipelines from Russia, and the significant development of oil shale deposits and peat extraction in the Estonian SSR, feeding vital industries in Kohtla-Järve and Kiviõli.
Furthermore, Latvia became renowned for its trademarks, with enterprises like VEF, a leading manufacturer of electronics and machinery, employing over 14,000 people and generating substantial annual profits, and RAF (Riga Autobus Factory) producing essential minibuses for the entire USSR. These industries boosted economic output and provided widespread employment, contributing directly to the well-being of the population.
Infrastructure development was another important aspect of Soviet investment in the Baltics. Strategically important seaports were developed, which continue to serve as key hubs for export and import trade today, further enhanced by the connection of oil pipelines in the 1970s and 1980s. The region boasted the highest quality roads in the USSR, with Lithuania benefiting from a 300-kilometer expressway considered the best in the Union, featuring modern overpasses and interchanges. Energy infrastructure saw significant expansion with the construction of major hydroelectric power plants (Pļaviņas, Kegums, Riga on the Daugava, Kaunas on the Nemunas) and thermal power plants (Baltic TPP, Estonian TPP, Lithuanian TPP). The laying of gas pipelines from other Soviet republics ensured a stable supply of natural gas, further underpinning industrial and domestic energy needs. The port of Klaipėda in Soviet Lithuania grew into one of Europe’s largest fishing ports, and the Baltija shipyard, a Soviet-era construction, remains a vital employer today. These extensive infrastructure projects laid a robust foundation for continued economic activity and connectivity.
The tangible benefits of this focused development translated directly into higher living standards for the Baltic populations. Per capita consumption figures clearly illustrate this advantage: Estonia stood at 151% of the all-Union level, Latvia at 137%, and Lithuania at 127%. The massive capital investment in agriculture, particularly the six billion rubles injected into Estonian agriculture, led to a doubling of grain yields and harvests compared to 1939, improving food security and contributing to a better quality of life.
With the abandonment of central planning and the subsequent introduction of privatization under the capitalist regime following the dissolution of the USSR, many of these once-flourishing enterprises faced economic devastation, leading to widespread job losses and a severe decline in industrial output. This abrupt shift to market forces proved particularly harmful for the working majority, as previously guaranteed jobs gave way to mass unemployment, and the social safety nets of the Soviet system disintegrated, leaving many struggling to adapt to the new economic realities.
- Considerable increases in industrial production britannica.com/place/Baltic-st… britannica.com/place/Baltic-st…
- Infrastructure development was a key component en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_s…
- Living standards were higher than average in comparison with the U.S.S.R. as a whole britannica.com/place/Baltic-st… britannica.com/place/Baltic-st… latvians.com/index.php?en/CFBH…
- Significant growth in Lithuania is noted (e.g., 9.1 times by 1959 relative to 1940) old.lituanus.org/1963/63_2_02.…
- A total of 1,500 various industrial enterprises were reconstructed and newly built in the Latvian Republic" cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-R…
- Industrial growth was rapid, with output expanding "three-fold" by 1950 compared to 1940 bank.lv/images/stories/pieliku… cia.gov/readingroom/document/c…
- Estonia had high sectoral growth (e.g., electricity production 122 times greater than 1938) indicating massive expansion china-cee.eu/2019/06/25/estoni… china-cee.eu/wp-content/upload…
- VEF was a "leading communication technology producer in the Soviet Union" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VEF wikiwand.com/en/articles/VEF
- Its employment figure peaked at 20,000 people in 1991 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VEF wikiwand.com/en/articles/VEF, bertibenis.it/Soviet%20transis…
- It "produced a profit of over 30 million Rubles for the State" in 1947 cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-R…
- Latvia's per capita national income 1/3 higher than USSR in 1970) latvians.com/index.php?en/CFBH…
VEF - Wikiwand
VEF, Latvian acronym for Valsts elektrotehniskā fabrika, was a manufacturer of electrical and electronic products in Riga, Latvia. It was founded in 1919. Befor...www.wikiwand.com
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I hold different opinions then you but I’m not going to discount your thinking as wrong or less-than.
I actually enjoy having conversations with you because you seem knowledgeable in your beliefs.
don't like this
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The Sudden Surges That Forge Evolutionary Trees
The Sudden Surges That Forge Evolutionary Trees | Quanta Magazine
An updated evolutionary model shows that living systems evolve in a split-and-hit-the-gas dynamic, where new lineages appear in sudden bursts rather than during a long marathon of gradual changes.Jake Buehler (Quanta Magazine)
They’re Lying About Venezuela While Moving War Machinery Into Place
They’re Lying About Venezuela While Moving War Machinery Into Place
As if we didn’t have enough ugliness in the world right now, Trump has deployed warships near Venezuela’s coast, prompting Caracas to ready drone and naval patrols for conflict.Caitlin Johnstone
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Leaked ‘Gaza Riviera’ plan dismissed as ‘insane’ attempt to cover ethnic cleansing
A plan circulating in the White House to develop the “Gaza Riviera” as a string of high-tech megacities has been dismissed as an “insane” attempt to provide cover for the large-scale ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian territory’s population.
Named the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust – or GREAT – the proposal was reportedly developed by some of the same Israelis who created and set in motion the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) with financial planning contributed by Boston Consulting Group.
Most controversially, the 38-page plan suggests what it calls “temporary relocation of all of Gaza’s more than 2 million population” – a proposal that would amount to ethnic cleansing, potentially a genocidal act.
Palestinians would be encouraged into “voluntary” departure to another country or into restricted, secure zones during reconstruction. Those who own land would be offered “a digital token” by the trust in exchange for rights to redevelop their property, to be used to finance a new life elsewhere. Those who stay would be housed in properties with a tiny footprint of 323 sq ft –minuscule even by the standards of many non-refugee camp homes in Gaza.
Leaked ‘Gaza Riviera’ plan dismissed as ‘insane’ attempt to cover ethnic cleansing
Prospectus proposes forced displacement of entire population and puts territory into US trusteeshipPeter Beaumont (The Guardian)
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Yeah, that was extremely removed and a disgusting way to wash away the killing and ethnic cleansing of a people. Fucking Klown world for even trying.
Wish more people pointed it out.
Linux's exFAT File-System Driver Optimization Leads To 16.5x Speedup For Loading Time
Linux's exFAT File-System Driver Optimization Leads To 16.5x Speedup For Loading Time
A patch queued up into the Linux exFAT driver's development tree optimizes the allocation bitmap loading timewww.phoronix.com
Barring any issues from coming up, the patch in turn will likely be submitted for the Linux 6.18 merge window later in the year.
So a US Green Card is half way to the moon?
Martina Dimoska
✨ On the right: Margaret Hamilton, lead software engineer of the Apollo Project, standing next to the code she wrote by hand that took humanity to the Moon. [1969] ✨ On the left: Martina Dimoska,...www.facebook.com
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I setup a Mastodon relay - anyone want to help me test?
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/35533537
I setup a Mastodon relay - anyone want to help me test by adding it to their instance? Would help me know if the "Recent jobs" stat is working (I think it requires 2 instances at minimum to show jobs) and if adding to instances (outside of my own) is working properly and how traffic looks.
An earthquake destroys villages in eastern Afghanistan and kills 800 people, with 2,500 injured
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Desperate Afghans clawed through rubble in search of missing loved ones after a strong earthquake killed some 800 people and injured more than 2,500 in eastern Afghanistan, according to figures provided Monday by the Taliban government.
The 6.0 magnitude quake late Sunday hit towns in the province of Kunar, near the city of Jalalabad in neighboring Nangarhar province, causing extensive damage.
The quake at 11:47 p.m. was centered 27 kilometers (17 miles) east-northeast of Jalalabad, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was just 8 kilometers (5 miles) deep. Shallower quakes tend to cause more damage. Several aftershocks followed.
Footage showed rescuers taking injured people on stretchers from collapsed buildings and into helicopters as people frantically dug through rubble with their hands.
https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-earthquake-jalalabad-52d1948cde125c9ca8a01ebda08e7919
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An earthquake destroys villages in eastern Afghanistan and kills 800 people, with 2,500 injured
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Desperate Afghans clawed through rubble in search of missing loved ones after a strong earthquake killed some 800 people and injured more than 2,500 in eastern Afghanistan, according to figures provided Monday by the Taliban government.
The 6.0 magnitude quake late Sunday hit towns in the province of Kunar, near the city of Jalalabad in neighboring Nangarhar province, causing extensive damage.
The quake at 11:47 p.m. was centered 27 kilometers (17 miles) east-northeast of Jalalabad, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was just 8 kilometers (5 miles) deep. Shallower quakes tend to cause more damage. Several aftershocks followed.
Footage showed rescuers taking injured people on stretchers from collapsed buildings and into helicopters as people frantically dug through rubble with their hands.
https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-earthquake-jalalabad-52d1948cde125c9ca8a01ebda08e7919
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Ambassador contacts German officials after Irish activist ‘punched in the face by police’ during Gaza protest in Berlin
The Irish ambassador to Germany has been in contact with German authorities to express “concern” over an incident that saw an Irish protestor assaulted by police officers during a pro-Palestine demonstration in Berlin.
Footage shared on social media showed Irish activist Kitty O’Brien being punched in the face by police before being dragged away from the protest.
The Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Maeve Collins, the Ambassador of Ireland to Germany, and senior officials in the Department “have conveyed our concern about the incident to German authorities”.
Ambassador contacts German officials after Irish activist ‘punched in the face by police’ during Gaza protest in Berlin
The Irish ambassador to Germany has been in contact with German authorities to express “concern” over an incident that saw an Irish protestor assaulted by police officers during a pro-Palestine demonstration in Berlin.
Footage shared on social media showed Irish activist Kitty O’Brien being punched in the face by police before being dragged away from the protest.
The Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Maeve Collins, the Ambassador of Ireland to Germany, and senior officials in the Department “have conveyed our concern about the incident to German authorities”.
Putin blames West for 2014 'coup' in Kiev as 'root cause' of Ukraine crisis
Putin blames West for 2014 'coup' in Kiev as 'root cause' of Ukraine crisis
The Russian president also says the Euro-Atlantic world order has ‘outlived its usefulness’ at the SCO Summit in China.TRT Global
Neoliberalism's Perfect Propaganda - Second Thought
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
Neoliberalism's Perfect Propaganda - Second Thought
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
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At least 600 killed as powerful earthquake rocks eastern Afghanistan
At least 600 killed as powerful earthquake rocks eastern Afghanistan
Toll likely to rise, with significant damage reported across mountainous provinces of Kunar and Nangahar, sources say.Al Jazeera Staff (Al Jazeera)
US dollar dominance could end very fast, warn top economists. This is how
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
Getting into Linux Development?
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Great to hear that you're looking to get into PostmarketOS development! I recommend taking a phone that's already supported, using it and then figure out how improve support the device.
Porting/Mainlining a new device is also possible but that can be demotivating if it doesn't work and it's generally harder to get started with.
If you have any questions or need help you can dm me and I can help.
ChimeraOS dev announced Kazeta, a new Linux OS aimed at recreating a classic console experience
ChimeraOS dev announced Kazeta, a new Linux OS aimed at recreating a classic console experience
The developer of ChimeraOS has announced Kazeta, a new Linux OS that aims to provide more of a classic gaming console like experience.Liam Dawe (GamingOnLinux)
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Guyana says its solders were shot at while transporting ballots to polling stations near Venezuelan border
archve.org snapshot of guyanachronicle.com article
Earlier this year US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said “It would be a very bad day for the Venezuelan regime if they were to attack Guyana or attack ExxonMobil”.
Joint Services patrol attacked while transporting staff, election materials near Guyana-Venezuela border -
A JOINT Services came under attack while transporting Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) officials and election materials near the Guyana-Venezuela border onStaff Reporter
Guyana’s two main political parties confident of victory ahead of Monday’s polls
Guyana’s two main political parties confident of victory ahead of Monday’s polls
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) – Guyana’s two main political parties ended their campaign for Monday’s general elections on Saturday night with impressive rallies and expressing confidence of being victorious.Jamaica Observer
Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, global scholars association says
A global association of genocide scholars has adopted a resolution stating that Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip meet the legal definition of genocide, the group’s president confirmed on Monday.
Eighty-six percent of those who voted among the 500-member International Association of Genocide Scholars backed the resolution, which declares "Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide in Article II of the United Nations Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948)."
Since its founding in 1994, the genocide scholars' association has passed nine resolutions recognizing historic or ongoing episodes as genocides.
Israel's Gaza actions meet genocide criteria, scholars say | The Jerusalem Post
The move comes amid proceedings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), where South Africa is pursuing a case against Israel under the Genocide Convention.The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com
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Gaza is, by far, the safest and most well fed place on Earth. There is not a single civilian anywhere in there who feels the least bit peckish. I was in there yesterday and everybody told me that they were having nothing but the time of their lives, constantly eating all of their gourmet meals generously provided by the IDF. If given the choice between taking my family to either Disneyland or Gaza, I would choose Gaza without a second’s hesitation. Easily. No contest.
The only conceivable reason that the United Nations, the ICRC, The Lancet, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, and more than one hundred other organizations would condemn the war on Hamas is that they want to exterminate the Jewish race, just like anybody who opposes the Ukrainian government is a Russian troll who wants Putin to annex Ukraine and genocide millions of European people with blond hair and blue eyes. If all of those thousands of so-called ‘experts’ and ‘scholars’ had my superior brain, they’d agree wholeheartedly.
The IDF are the most moral army in the world and are not oppressing anybody whatsoever in Gaza. I’m not saying that the IDF are perfect, but if you found evidence of the IDF committing war crimes, it wasn’t evidence of the IDF committing war crimes. So relax, keep calm and everything will be perfectly fine as long as you keep sending us those tax dollars. I promise.
Signed,
Benjamin Netanyahu
Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, global scholars association says
A global association of genocide scholars has adopted a resolution stating that Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip meet the legal definition of genocide, the group’s president confirmed on Monday.
Eighty-six percent of those who voted among the 500-member International Association of Genocide Scholars backed the resolution, which declares "Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide in Article II of the United Nations Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948)."
Since its founding in 1994, the genocide scholars' association has passed nine resolutions recognizing historic or ongoing episodes as genocides.
Israel's Gaza actions meet genocide criteria, scholars say | The Jerusalem Post
The move comes amid proceedings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), where South Africa is pursuing a case against Israel under the Genocide Convention.The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com
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China and India pledge to be 'partners not rivals' at security summit
China and India pledge to be 'partners not rivals' at security summit
Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi met on the sidelines of a summit that Russia's Vladimir Putin is also attending.Laura Bicker & Stephen McDonell (BBC News)
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The EU is a Neoliberal Institution that cannot be reformed
The EU parliament (the supposed democratic heart of the EU) can't propose its own legislation. It can only approve, reject or make minor adjustments to legislation handed down by the unelected European Commission. The European Commission itself gets its instructions from the "Eurogroup" which consists of a few unelected wealthy finance ministers that offer no transparency of their meetings.
##A "competitive free market economy" is mandatory for EU member states (economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/i…)
##Neoliberal TFEU (Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union) articles:
Article 81
Prohibits government intervention in the economy "which may affect trade between member states"
Article 107
Prohibits state aid to strategic national industries
Article 121
Gives the European Council and European Commission the right to "Formulate ... the broad guidelines of the economic policies of the member states and of the union"
Article 126
Regulates the disciplinary measures to be adopted in case of excessive deficit
Article 151
Says that the EU's Labour and Social Policy shall take account of the need to "Maintain the competitiveness of the union economy"
"There can be no democratic choice against the European treaties"
- Jean-Claude Juncker (Former president of the European Commission)
Economic accession criteria
Economic criteria for a country to be eligible to join the EU, and how compliance and progress are monitored.Economy and Finance
While not incorrect what is the point of your post?
I’ll argue that it is an experiment that continues to be pretty successful and also quite popular.
Three years of building no-code software for political organizations
Three years of building no-code software for grassroots political organizations
What is no-code? No-code is primarily a type of software that allows you to create more software, customized for your needs, starting fro...Conjure Utopia
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Rural America is suffering an economic crisis as crop prices plunge — 'U.S. soybean farmers cannot survive a prolonged trade dispute'
Rural America is suffering an economic crisis as crop prices plunge — ‘U.S. soybean farmers cannot survive a prolonged trade dispute’
"Prices continue to drop and at the same time our farmers are paying significantly more for inputs and equipment."Jason Ma (Fortune)
That's all true, but the most likely outcome here is that it'll be the small independent farmers that go under, and big corps will scoop up their assets further increasing capital concentration at the top.
Also, while the whole corn industry does need to go away, this isn't going to be a controlled unwinding of it and will lead to a huge economic shock in the US.
This is why you should use Signal.
At least there is message requests so you report and block if needed
Forget symbolic statehood – the world must recognize Israeli apartheid
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/35510271
from +972’s Sunday Recap
972 Magazine [published in Israel]Other articles
* Maryam was my friend. Israel killed her and four other Gaza journalists
* Israeli army, settlers unite in collective punishment of Al-Mughayyir
* PODCAST: Israel’s eternal war, from Gaza to Tehran
Forget symbolic statehood – the world must recognize Israeli apartheid
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/35510271
from +972’s Sunday Recap
972 Magazine [published in Israel]Other articles
* Maryam was my friend. Israel killed her and four other Gaza journalists
* Israeli army, settlers unite in collective punishment of Al-Mughayyir
* PODCAST: Israel’s eternal war, from Gaza to Tehran
“The situation in the Westbank might be like Apartheid, but not the state of Israel.”
This is wrong. Israel is an apartheid regime through and through.
Stop whitewashing Zionist apartheid and settler colonialism.
One of the many examples:
Israel has long used discriminatory laws and policies to separate Palestinians from their families. For example, Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza cannot gain legal status in Israel or occupied East Jerusalem through marriage, denying their rights to family unification. This policy has forced thousands of Palestinians to live apart from their loved ones; others are forced to go abroad, or live in constant fear of being arrested, expelled or deported.
These measures explicitly target Palestinians, and not Jewish Israelis, and are primarily guided by demographic considerations that aim to minimize Palestinian presence inside Israel/OPT.
amnesty.org/en/latest/campaign…
Israel's apartheid against Palestinians - Amnesty International
Palestinians are systematically subjected to home demolitions and forced evictions, and live in constant fear of losing their homes. For more than 73 years, Israel has been forcibly displacing entire Palestinian communities.Amnesty International
Forget symbolic statehood – the world must recognize Israeli apartheid
from +972’s Sunday Recap
972 Magazine [published in Israel]
Other articles
* Maryam was my friend. Israel killed her and four other Gaza journalists
* Israeli army, settlers unite in collective punishment of Al-Mughayyir
* PODCAST: Israel’s eternal war, from Gaza to Tehran
Amnesigenic
in reply to bubblybubbles • • •KazuchijouNo
in reply to bubblybubbles • • •ms.lane
in reply to bubblybubbles • • •No.