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http://chronicle.com/article/Seeds-of-Discord/146161/ This comparative, historical piece appeared on portside. Seeds of Discord in Ukraine By Scott Reynolds Nelson When I arrived in Odessa in the spring of 2011 to do research on trade between Russia and the West in the 19th century, I imagined the relatively idyllic picture painted by financial observers of that period. When our plane landed, I discovered that my spoken Russian was not good enough to bargain with the Gypsy cab drivers. I finally located someone who spoke a little German and a few words of English. I showed him the address of my hotel, and he looked me up and down, twice. When we arrived, I discovered why. "*Russkaya mafiya,*" he said as I startled at the men in camouflage jackets who guarded the front gates with Kalashnikovs. Two sniper towers had sightlines that converged on our taxi. I had, apparently, booked a hotel in a Russian-mafia quarter. My broken Russian and my printed reservation got me in. Outside the compound, I had seen poverty. Inside, I saw opulence: Humvees, late-model Benzes, and million-dollar summer homes of the newly rich Russians close to Vladimir Putin. My hotel room looked out onto a pool that looked out onto the Black Sea. Young women who brought to mind bikini models swam in the pool while boyfriends the age of their fathers watched from their deck chairs. This was the new Ukraine, and it was a long time in the making. ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
