Chapter 699 The Foundation of the New Alliance

Although Russia currently has some favorable conditions to ease the economic crisis. But the challenges it faces are still quite serious.

In the early 1990s, not long after Russia's economic reforms, large-scale capital flight occurred. As the economic depression continued, capital flight continued to deepen. According to the balance of payments compiled by the Bank of Russia and estimates by some experts, Russia's annual capital flight since 1994 has been approximately US$17 billion. So far, approximately US$180 billion to US$211 billion has flowed abroad.

Large-scale capital flight has caused Russia to lose a large amount of investment funds, and debt risks have continued to increase, resulting in Russian economic stagnation and lack of vitality. At present, the most important thing for the Russian government is to accelerate economic development, create a good domestic investment environment, and take corresponding measures to strengthen the control of Russia's foreign trade and strengthen legislation on capital flows to eliminate illegal capital flight.

However, Russia appears to be relatively weak in attracting foreign investment. Judging from the current situation of attracting foreign investment, it lags far behind Western countries and many developing countries, and is also not as good as Eastern Europe and some CIS countries.

In the past nine years, Russia has introduced a total of US$23 billion in foreign investment, of which direct investment is less than US$10 billion. Last year, affected by the financial crisis in Southeast Asia, the total foreign investment in Russia declined, and direct investment fell by 40%. Therefore, in the period of economic transition, in order to get rid of economic difficulties and develop the economy. The Russian government needs to effectively attract and utilize foreign investment. It must first ensure Russia's internal political stability and good social security. On the other hand, it must also improve laws and regulations, maintain policy continuity, protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors, and effectively improve the domestic investment environment. .

Russia's current sales of fuel and raw material products provide the country with the funds needed to carry out reforms and repay external debts, but at the same time, it makes Russia's export structure more fragile. Although the Russian government has made some efforts to improve the structure of foreign trade imports and exports and encourage and stimulate the export of industrial products and high-tech products, little has been achieved. In order to improve export efficiency, Russia has begun to reform its oil companies, but reform requires time and funds, which is another severe test for Russia's foreign trade situation.

In fact, the poor performance of the Russian economy is not only due to macroeconomic factors such as high inflation, floating exchange rates, etc., but more importantly, the government's microeconomic intervention, such as subsidies, tax exemptions, etc., which has placed a heavy burden on the government. The government's excessive spending and Deficits caused financial crises.

In the steel industry, the industry most affected by government intervention in Russia, labor productivity is only one-tenth of that of U.S. Steel, while in the Russian food service and software industries without government intervention, they have higher efficiency.

Although there are only 6,000 people working in software development in Russia, its productivity is about 70% that of the United States. This also shows that the government’s overprediction of microeconomics often undermines the best macroeconomic policies.

Under such circumstances, Yeltsin's overall performance was very unsatisfactory. No wonder he got a heart attack from exhaustion.

From a medical point of view, Fan Wuyi

Yeltsin can be said to be a typical example of coronary heart disease. He has almost all risk factors: high-fat diet, smoking and drinking, emotional agitation, and severe obesity.

Yeltsin himself admitted that he had suffered five heart attacks and one heart surgery during his term as president.

In fact, it was as early as twelve years ago. Yeltsin was diagnosed with coronary heart disease, but it did not attract his attention. Not only did he not receive standardized treatment, but he still maintained his original lifestyle, continued to enjoy his favorite Russian food, and smoked clouds without leaving his hand. Breathing mist while savoring the potent vodka.

By the year before last, Yeltsin's coronary heart disease had progressed to a very serious stage. Three coronary arteries had diffuse and serious lesions, and he was also complicated by hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes. At this time, his condition was no longer suitable for medical stent implantation. The only option was surgical coronary artery bypass surgery. The operation lasted for more than seven hours and a total of four blood vessel bridges were built.

For coronary heart disease, the most emphasis is on early prevention and treatment, secondary prevention, and attention to lifestyle adjustments. However, if the patient has a long medical history and develops to a condition like Yeltsin's with diffuse disease in multiple blood vessels and combined with cardiac insufficiency, the chance of sudden cardiac death is more than 90%. Any slight disturbance, such as a cold, emotional excitement, or slight fatigue, can be the trigger for sudden death.

Fan Wubing can say without hesitation that when Yeltsin's condition has developed to this extent, sudden death is an inevitable result. Russia's good medical conditions can only delay the progression of the disease, but cannot prevent the tragedy.

The Russian diet can be called the "coronary heart disease diet". Butter, sausages, and bread are the daily diet of Russian people, and they are also typical high-fat, high-sugar, and high-calorie foods. As the President of Russia, Yeltsin of course ate with the people. He often ate such high-fat foods, which laid the foundation for coronary heart disease.

Among obese people, those most at risk are those with abdominal obesity, also known as apple-shaped figures. The fat cells of these people accumulate around the major organs in the abdominal cavity, affecting blood sugar metabolism and easily causing abnormalities in blood lipids, cholesterol, and triglycerides. Unfortunately, Yeltsin, who had a big belly, had this very important risk factor.

Character determines destiny, and no one can do anything about it when your temper gets angry. As we all know, Yeltsin, the first democratically elected president of Russia, was never easy-going. He was a man of temperament. He did whatever he wanted and never listened to the advice of others.

Yeltsin is a typical type A personality. The characteristics of this type of person are irritable, competitive, fast-paced, efficient, ambitious, dominant, and competitive. Type A personality people are at high risk of coronary heart disease. On the basis of this personality, Yeltsin often suffers from great pressure.

Yeltsin was born in a peasant family. His poor family background and hard childhood life cultivated his stubborn and aggressive character, which accompanied him almost throughout his political career. During his presidency, his violent temper caused him to change governments as naturally as changing shirts.

When people are emotionally excited and under heavy pressure, they will cause sympathetic nerve excitement, increase the secretion of catecholamines in the body, and act on blood vessels, which will cause vascular contraction and faster heart rate. It strengthens the contractility of the myocardium, increases myocardial oxygen consumption, increases the heart load, and causes angina pectoris and even myocardial infarction. If long-term huge pressure makes Yeltsin plant a bomb in his heart, then violent temper is the fuse of this bomb, which may explode at any time.

Yeltsin was also a person who loved smoking and drinking. He was the most loyal customer of Russian vodka and often used alcoholism to relieve work pressure. Every day at 11 o'clock in the morning, Yeltsin would start drinking one glass after another, and even drink until dinner time. He once delayed the scheduled meeting with the then Irish Prime Minister because he was drunk at the farewell banquet at the White House.

The relationship between smoking and coronary heart disease is also clear. Harmful ingredients such as coal tar and nicotine in cigarettes can damage vascular endothelial cells, cause plaque formation or aggravate existing plaques; cause vascular spasms, and further aggravate vascular stenosis. It was under the influence of these two killers, tobacco and alcohol, that Yeltsin's coronary heart disease became more serious.

When Fan Wubing met with Yeltsin, he carefully examined him, and then had to shake his head and said, "Mr. President, if you don't change your ways, I'm afraid it will be difficult to live for ten years. Your health is now a mess, and it can't be any worse!"

Yeltsin's poor health. It was just like the Jiangnan Province levee that was riddled with holes. Any big wave could break the levee. When Fan Wubing used his true qi to check Yeltsin, he felt that if he used a little more true qi, his meridians would burst. He was so cautious that he was treading on thin ice. After the check, he was sweating a lot.

Even when he checked those critically ill patients in the past, Fan Wubing had never felt so troublesome as today.

Yeltsin had known his condition for a long time. After listening to Fan Wubing's words, he smiled and said, "Anyway, it's like this. Just leave it to fate. Eat when you should eat, drink when you should drink. People die and birds fly to the sky. They will live forever."

Fan Heng came with Fan Wubing. He had learned Russian, and the technical information he came into contact with in Pingyuan Factory was basically in Russian, and the experts he came into contact with were all Russians. Therefore, there was no obstacle in communicating with Yeltsin, and he directly bypassed the translator.

"My son is very good at treating seriously ill patients. You might as well ask him to prescribe some prescriptions for you or treat you." Fan Heng said to Yeltsin.

"For someone like me, there is probably no need for treatment." Yeltsin did not have any expectations for Fan Wubing, and replied after shaking his head.

Fan Wubing slapped his head and thought that now that Yeltsin refused his treatment so straightforwardly, it might not be because he felt that he was incapable of treating him, but that he was already planning Russia's future and preparing to bring Putin to the forefront.

Yeltsin came to China recently, in fact, for two major events, one was to pave the way for Putin to come to power, and the other was to come to discuss the Kosovo War initiated by the United States and the European Union.

The most eye-catching political issue this year is the issue of national independence. Kosovo in Yugoslavia, Chechnya in Russia, and East Timor in Indonesia have all ignited the fire of national independence, but the final results are three completely different outcomes. The first is that national independence is achieved under the armed intervention of foreign forces, such as Kosovo in Yugoslavia; the second is that national independence is achieved through a peaceful referendum, such as the independence of East Timor in Indonesia; the third is that independence fails under the armed suppression of the sovereign government, such as the independence of Chechnya in Russia.

If a weak nation wants to be independent from its sovereign, it must obtain strong international support. If it can get the full support of a big country or even armed intervention, the possibility of successful independence is very high. This NATO armed intervention has enabled Kosovo to gain independence, which has greatly encouraged other nations or regions that want independence. Since the United States can support Kosovo's independence by force, can it also support our independence by force?

Inspired by NATO's intervention in Kosovo, East Timor in Indonesia has launched a high-spirited independence movement. Under strong pressure from the United States and other countries, the Habibie government of Indonesia had to agree to East Timor's referendum to vote on the issue of independence and allow the United Nations troops led by Australia to enter East Timor to maintain law and order.

NATO's action of sending troops to Kosovo this time has set a precedent for foreign forces to use force to support national independence movements. The domestic government will naturally worry that when separatist movements appear in some regions, some countries such as the United States will also send troops to intervene or support them militarily. Therefore, it is reasonable for the domestic government to strongly oppose NATO and the United States' interference in Kosovo's independence.

Of course, it is not only China that opposes the United States and NATO. Countries with national independence and regional separatism issues such as Russia and India are worried that a big country like the United States will call on some countries to jointly interfere in their internal ethnic issues, so they also strongly oppose the United States' military intervention in Yugoslavia.

This time, Russian President Yeltsin visited China despite his illness, and China expressed support for Russia's suppression of Chechnya's independence, which also reflects that China and Russia share the same position in opposing separatist forces.

The bombing of the embassy was, of course, a simple accidental bombing. Even if the inside story is left out, it is unlikely that the United States' high-tech weapons would accidentally bomb an obvious target like the embassy. Although the bombing of the Chinese embassy was not necessarily planned directly by Clinton and other senior government officials, it is very likely that some officials in the US military wanted to use the bombing of the Chinese embassy to teach anti-American China a lesson and to warn Russia, India and other countries to be more restrained when they are anti-American.

When the Sino-US relations were at their lowest point, Lee Teng-hui put forward the two-state theory, which was also a strategy of testing the waters to see how much support the Americans could give to Taiwan.

Now that the United States is powerful and has also dragged the European Union into it, it is so aggressive that even Russia feels alone. Therefore, Yeltsin had to come to China with a sick body and once again set up the Sino-Russian alliance to deal with the pressure from the United States. Naturally, the term alliance can no longer be mentioned now, because it sounds uneasy to Americans, so a different term is used, called strategic partnership.

The two major countries, both of which have ethnic problems, finally joined hands again to deal with the huge pressure from the United States.