Momus. Solution 11-167 The Book of Scotlands, Sternberg Press, 2010

Momus, a.k.a. Nick Currie is a multitalented artist--"polymath" they speak of scientists--who is being unfairly kept down by his own versatility. He is, of course, best known as a rock musician of no mean talent; I consider him a true heir to late/late John Lennon of "Strawberry Fields" and "Imagine" fame though this opinion is rarely shared. But he is also a musical critic, quite an accomplished photographer, connoisseur of architecture and a collector of exotic women including Japanese feminist radicals, an underage daughter of a Bangladeshi merchant and a French princess of Russo-Polish lineage, who lives in Germany, though in the last case I am not sure she is not a fembot.

His talent of the novelist reflect this polymorphous erudite culture. In his "Scotlands" he flawlessly passes from philosophical discourse, to socio-cultural criticism, to the vilest pornography (Scotland 28). You can imagine him as more sober but less stylistically refined companion to recently deceased D. F. Wallace, whose masterpiece "The Infinite Jest" would benefit much from the length similar to Momus', so it would not require a grant to finish it up. But his narrative gift is less strong and he reminds the reader of testosterone-pumped but rather cold version of Borges. Buy this book, enjoy it, but do not expect great discoveries for his real vocation is music.

Russian Defense Industry (in Russian), Part II

The author’s essay argues that, unlike the Russian Army, which has undergone
substantive transformation since the beginning of reforms in late 1990s-early 2000s,
the defense industry lagged or even reversed its reforms. Main impediments of
redesigning ex-Soviet defense industry are far from financial.

• First, it is a location of major Soviet research and production centers in the labor-deficient and very expensive cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg.

• Second, it is low liquidity of the real estate market particularly in provinces, which prevents rational migration of a workforce.

• Third, reduced political competition after 2004 left major technical and organizational decisions in the hands of a few government officials, which have vested interests in low transparency and proliferation of levels of management at the expense of production.

To read the Part II of the essay (in Russian) please navigate to comments I-IV.

Russian Defense Industry (in Russian)

Abstract

The author’s essay argues that, unlike the Russian Army, which has undergone
substantive transformation since the beginning of reforms in late 1990s-early 2000s,
the defense industry lagged or even reversed its reforms. Main impediments of
redesigning ex-Soviet defense industry are far from financial.

• First, it is a location of major Soviet research and production centers in the labor-deficient and very expensive cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg.

• Second, it is low liquidity of the real estate market particularly in provinces, which prevents rational migration of a workforce.

• Third, reduced political competition after 2004 left major technical and organizational decisions in the hands of a few government officials, which have vested interests in low transparency and proliferation of levels of management at the expense of production.

To read the essay (in Russian) please navigate to comments I-V.  The entire essay will be posted later.

Фиг. 1 Организация управления оборонной промышленности СССР около 1979 года. Черная маска изображает Члена Политбюро ЦК КПСС, серая—Заместителя Председателя СМ СССР белая—Секретаря ЦК КПСС. Слабыми сторонами этой организации, помимо внеэкономических методов руководства и, соответственно, непомерного бремени на экономику, является отсутствие аналитических функций—приоритеты, в основном, формируются на основании уже достигнутых показателей, и чрезвычайная зависимость политики от позиции нескольких ключевых управленцев.


Фиг. 2. После ряда реорганизаций, управление оборонной промышленностью РФ приобрело чрезвычайно запутанный и многоступенчатый характер. Оборонная промышленность оказалась поделена между ведомствами преимущественно президентского и преимущественно совминовского подчинения. Деятельность ВПК свелась к роли посредника между СМ РФ, Минпромторгом и рядом квазигосударственных организаций. Центр формирования политики переместился к Заместителю Министра Обороны по Вооружениям, который является и заказчиком, и приемщиком военной техники. Сосредоточение в одних руках и плановых, и контрактных полномочий создает большие возможности для злоупотреблений.

Фиг. 3 Реформированная система. Функции стратегического планирования переходят к Генеральному Штабу и соответствующим подразделениям других ведомств. ВПК занимается исключительно подготовкой бюджета и унификацией протоколов испытаний военной техники. Единственной производственной единицей выходящей на государственный уровень является руководство системообразующих контракторов (prime contractors) силовых министерств и ведомств.

The Cambridge History of the Cold War, vols. I-III

The Cambridge History of the Cold War is a thematically organized encyclopedia. As such, short but comprehensive history of the Cold War, which could be used as a reference source is long overdue. The problem with the encyclopedia is a highly variable level of articles, ranging from profound (D. Holloway), to the hackwork by the former Communist officials tailored to current DC intellectual fashions of their sponsors (V. Zubok), to the bizarre (G. Arrighi). The editors should have done a better work to incorporate the articles into a common whole. But still, it is an enormous achievement.