So I was wrong about the strength of the currency, it seems - I was making general assumptions from my experiences in Russia and elsewhere (where the order of preference for foreign currency is one of dollars or more marks (depending on which country in particular) then the other of the two, and then other currencies maybe). I'm not that surprised if the worldwide situation is different.
I'm going to get bored of defending/explaining myself soon (either that or remember from basic literary theory that authorial intention is irrelevant 
).
But for the moment:
The gulag-Voinian slave analogy is fundamentally flawed - most of the people in the gulags were Russian, whereas the Voinians are not noted for meting out such unpleasant treatment to their own people. With occasional expections (the Chechens, for instance) the Soviet regime was fairly even-handed (in racial terms, that is - no one group suffering especially worse than others). Comparing the various slave races to satellite states won't wash either - sure when it came to it they were kept in line by Soviet tanks, but the standards of living in (most of (we're excepting Albania here, of course)) Eastern Europe at least were much higher than those of Russia itself - visiting Berlin was almost as much of a system shock as going to the West for the first time, according to one acquaintance of mine.
Slav: I didn't say 'the Western community' was the model for United Earth - my analogy was 19th century Great Powers, mostly European, yes, but Imperial Russia was unquestionably one of them (at most points 2nd or maybe 3rd most powerful of them in fact). Conceptually, Russia is an integral part of the UE (they are on Earth after all). As for comparisons in national/racial character; for one thing few Russians I've met lately seem particularly arrogant about being Russian - they're all (sometimes painfully) aware of how ****ed up their country is these days, and how much better things are run in the West. Aside from some confrontations with police, and one incident that might be called a mugging (and might happen in any city), the worst thing I've ever worried about from Russians is that they'll force me to drink more vodka than I want to - the average Voinian would like nothing better than to lay waste to your entire planet, something they've done on more than one occasion.
Voinians are perhaps best described like the Vogons from the Hitchhiker's Guide: not actually evil (maybe) but unpleasant, officious, bureaucratic, etc. The fact that humans, and certain human political entities from history in particular, is beside the point. The USSR is just the most recent and well-known example of one. You might as easily be comparing them to Imperial Germany, China (at various times), the Roman Empire, the Assyrians, or whoever you care to name.
If the Voinians seem more hidebound and bureaucratic than United Earth in particular, this is more a side-effect of communications: the Voinians have ftl (ie. instantaneous) communications, while all UE fleet messages are carried by ship, so messages and orders can take a week or more to go to and from command at Luna. This, of course, is an advantage for the Voinians, somewhat counteracted by the freedom it gives to regional UE commanders (eg. d'Erlon). The entire Voinian fleet is being directed by some fragmented committee on Borb station, while the UE navy acts with a little more intelligence.
Yes, the Soviet Union had an exagerrated amount of hero worship for Volodya and Jo, which, now that the full force of the regime is no longer behind it, is beginning to die off (although I have seen the queues for Lenin's tomb, and, indeed, seen (the half wax-work remains of) the man himself - and I have seen the Stalin bloc of the Communists in action as part of a parade by the various Communist parties on the main square of a provincial Russian town). I could as easily make the comparison to Mao's red books, not to mention Hitler's cult of personality. Borb is actually better compared (and I make this comparison for reasons of familiarity to all and scale of achievement and nothing more) to George Washington (or Lincoln - even I can quote fragments of Lincoln's speeches purely by diffusion) - he really was the driving force between an impressive historical event, and his continuing popularity generations after his death is due to genuinely being an awesome figure, not just the mascot of the regime.
Peter C.
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Ja sam ovde samo zbog piva
