Paul
Goble
Staunton, June 29 –The horrific
flooding in the Trans-Baikal has inflicted enormous human suffering compounded
by the incompetence, malfeasance and dishonesty of Russian officials, all of
which have been widely recognized by the victims and their families and
reported in the Russian media (sibreal.org/a/30027591.html).
But one aspect of the situation,
perhaps the most instructive of all, has attracted relatively little attention.
The flooding has blocked all road traffic between Russia west of Lake Baikal
and Russia east of that body of water, cutting
the country in two as far as that form of transportation is concerned (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2019/06/29/81068-voda-pribyvaet-i-dostignet-15-metrov).
This blockage is an indication of just
how poorly developed Russia’s infrastructure is. In many countries, a flood of
the dimensions of the one around Baikal would disrupt ground transport; but in
most, there would be alternatives, routes that might take longer but that could
still ensure the delivery of critical supplies of food and medicine.
Unfortunately, in most of Russia
outside of the ring road around Moscow there are no alternatives: there is one
road, one pipeline, and one rail line; and if anything happens to any one of
those arteries, the people who depend on it are going to suffer. That the Russian
authorities have chosen to ignore this and spend money instead on super
projects is thus the real crime.
One can only hope and pray that the
waters will recede soon and the survivors of this tragedy will begin the long
road to recovery – and one can also only hope and pray that the Kremlin will
change its approach to the Russians outside of its charmed circle, although hopes
for that are far dimmer than hopes for the recovery of the people of the Trans-Baikal.
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