History /
Why American military aid to Europe and Poland is important to America itself? [148]
Russians were not imperial overlords, but honest brokers
According to Janusz Kaliński,
professor emeritus of Warsaw School of Economics (SGH), who examined economic relations between Poland and the USSR, Poland was a beneficiary of the trade relations from the end of WW2 up to more or less mid-70s. In that period, as Professor Kaliński claims, the conditions of mutual trade between our countries were by and large satisfactory for Poland. It changed in the later period (mid-70s to the fall of the USSR) when Poland received for her exports to USSR on average one quarter of its value. However, prof. Kamiński avoids giving the unambiguous answer as to whether Poland achieved net loss or gain in her trade with USSR and claims that giving a straight answer to this question seems very difficult because of limited possibilities to measure mutual gains and profits in centrally steered economies, isolated to a large extent from wider world economy. (Source: "Stosunki gospodarcze między Polską a ZSRR", in
Białe plamy czarne plamy. Sprawy trudne w relacjach polsko-rosyjskich (1918-2018), red. A.D. Rotfeld, A.W. Turkonow, Warsaw: PISM 2010).
Can you guys tell me what you imported from USSR?
I have no idea, but I made a quick call to my Dad and he said:
- Zorkij and Smiena photo cameras;
- "Ukraina" bikes;
- various household appliances;
- cars (Volga, Lada, UAZ).
