The main problem in Russia is lack of a non-corrupt government. It is impossible to run any country, poor or rich, crime or no crime, healthcare or no healthcare, economy or no economy, without some sort of government. Russia needs assistance in the form of socialist diplomatic support, advice, and very carefully monitored loans. There is no question of producing a Marshall Plan for Russia of the sort that the United States pioneered after World War II, but Russia needs to make that plan, and the U.S. needs to let Russia know that plan will be supported. Although the conditions in Russia differ significantly from the post-war Europe, this struggling nation needs a similar plan to restore it's economy, government, and human rights. Russia is in a desperate state of despair, suffering from poverty, crime, and disease, and needs aid from the U.S. It is also in the interest of the U.S. to provide this aid, as long as the aid is targeted at areas that would best boost Russia's terrible statistics, and turn Russia into a successful trading partner.Poverty is a huge problem facing Russia. In a country with such long traditions of statistical manipulation and hostility to the inquiries of the state, it is not easy to pin down the true extent of poverty in Russia. But there is little doubt that the picture is looking increasingly bleak. United Nations figures suggest that the purchasing power of average income in the USSR in 1987 was about $6,000 or 32 per cent of the level of the US (Andrew, "POVERTY: Bleak future for the poor"). By 1996, it was just $4,531 in adjusted terms, or 17 per cent of the US level (Andrew, "POVERTY: Bleak future for the poor"). Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, there has been both growing inequality and a jump in absolute poverty. That is up from 11 per cent in 1994 (Andrew, "POVERTY: Bleak future for the poor"). Faced with such bleak figures, some observers argue that the figures are simply false. ...
