The original CIA document link does not work/content was removed, but fortunately the document is archived.

  • pingveno
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    2 years ago

    This has long been debunked. The studies that showed this were relying on food production minus exports. What they weren’t accounting for was spoilage, which was much more common in the Soviet Union. The US could also afford to produce more meat and fish than the USSR could. While it is true that meat especially has health issues associated with it, it was not some health guru that kept meat consumption low. It was simply that meat was scarce. As evidence, Russia has generally been increasing meat consumption over the years.

    • OsrsNeedsF2P
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      2 years ago

      This has long been debunked

      Not that I don’t believe you, but do you have any quality sources that clearly align with your debunk explanation or other debunk explanations?

      • pingveno
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        2 years ago

        Thank you for asking the right question instead of just downvoting. I normally wouldn’t link to a Reddit post, but this AskHistorians comment is of decent quality. It in turn cites a document that then has good citations of its own.

          • pingveno
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            2 years ago

            Yes, but with a specific reason. It’s a particularly high quality post on a subreddit, AskHistorians, where only historians can answer. AskHistorians has a good track record of producing high quality answers. In turn, it links to a well sourced blog post.

        • Lenins2ndCat
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          2 years ago

          Lmao a single document written by a defector is the basis for your “long been debunked” statement?

          This is like listening to Cuban gusanos about Cuba.

          • pingveno
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            2 years ago

            There are multiple documents used. Please try harder if you’re going to be dismissive.

            • Lenins2ndCat
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              2 years ago

              No there aren’t? He references one single document produced by the defector Igor Birman, a man who claimed the USSR’s economy at the time was only a tenth of America’s. The man was a crank.

              A random single person tells you what you want to hear on reddit and you’re like “yes I believe that you are definitely a reputable source without any ideological bias” without any critical thought whatsoever.

    • Lenins2ndCat
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      2 years ago

      This has long been debunked.

      By who? A reddit comment section you uncritically believed?

      • pingveno
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        2 years ago

        I read over a cited analysis debunking a related graph. It’s far more sophisticated than what was present in this report. Better that than uncritically accept a 40 year old CIA document based on guessed adjustments to the Soviet Union’s fabricated figures.

        • Lenins2ndCat
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          2 years ago

          fabricated figures.

          This is utterly untrue. All you’re doing is showing how ideologically driven everything you believe is when you say this. We KNOW they weren’t fabricated because we have completely open access to the soviet archives. You are fabricating your beliefs. “Sneaky communists just lie about everything!” You are utterly buried in generational red scare propaganda and it leaks out of every sentence you write.