[speaker001:] Okay, I think we're supposed to discuss our view of the Soviet Union as a continuing threat to the United States.
[speaker002:] Okay.
[speaker001:] How do you feel about that.
[speaker002:] I don't really, I more, [breathing] I don't know about the government as much as, uh, the people, uh, I wouldn't consider to be a threat at all and I really don't feel much like the Soviet Union itself is a threat anymore. I'm, I'm worried about them. They're in a very, uh, tumultuous state right now with the kinds of, uh, adaptations that they're attempting to go through, uh.
[speaker001:] I'm concerned about them not as a military threat, but as a burden. They're very large
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] and they can become very quickly a large financial burden, as, as one more stepchild we have to carry around.
[speaker002:] Yeah, I think that's, that's a real important aspect and that, uh, as the, the mo-, the most, the mo-, let's see, the more that we do, that we do or that we can do to help them become self-sufficient is going to eliminate more of the risk of that becoming, uh, you know, a reality. I know that, uh, this last winter was very hard on, uh, several areas in the, in the, the Ukraine, particularly the coal mining regions of Siberia, uh, the people there have money, that's not their problem, but there's no food for them to buy, and its, you can't eat money.
[speaker001:] [Noise] [printer] And they have, a, a problem, their, their whole attitude, uh, I, I'm not sure which crop it was, but they had a crop that rotted in the fields because they couldn't get anyone to harvest it.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] And the people in the city were saying, well why should I go do that. Make the government do that, that's not my job.
[speaker002:] Right, they've got a lot of adjustments to make with coming out of what they've been through now, and, uh, they've been, they've been under, under the oppression that they've been under for so long that now they have some freedoms but they don't know how to act yet. They don't understand that to make that work, they've got to take some responsibility for themselves. It's not just the government's responsibility anymore. You can't just blame it on the government when they give you the freedom to take care of yourself then that puts some responsibility on you as well.
[speaker001:] Absolutely, and, and I think that they're having a hard time with the concept of you can not go back. [ringing] [phone] People only go forward and I think that that is giving them, I'm expecting a call and unfortunately, I think it's come through. I've enjoyed talking to you.
[speaker002:] Okay.
[speaker001:] Thank you, bye,
[speaker002:] All right, bye-bye.