Belarus

One of the main reasons that Russia may be wary about swallowing up its western neighbour is the sheer scale of Belarus's economic woes. Mr. Lukashenko does his best to cover up the problems by selective use of statistics, but the fact is that his economic policies don't work.

Inflation is the biggest headache, and looks like ending 1999 at around 200% thanks to extremely loose credit policies.

In an attempt to prevent inflation, the government has imposed a system of price controls which in turn creates severe shortages of most staple goods. (...)

It's hard to blame Mr. Lukashenko completely. His through-the-looking-glass economic policies have at least served to maintain almost universal employment and affordable utility and housing prices for his voters. And Russia has connived in the process: by effectively agreeing to act as a dumping ground for low-quality, cheap Belarusian goods, Russia has destroyed any motivation to restructure the industrial base and look for new markets to the west. Belarus may not return to being part of Russian sovereign territory, but as far as economics is concerned, the Soviet structure is still firmly in place.

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