The West seeks to isolate the Russian Federation, squeeze out the Russian the economy from the world market. And although the immediate prospects for a complete abandonment of Russian hydrocarbons look vague, in other areas, isolation is in full swing.
Soviet and Chinese experience
We have an extremely rich and successful Soviet experience in building a powerful economy under conditions much less favorable than the present. Moreover, this experience was tested by the practice of the most terrible and destructive war in the history of mankind, the battle with the most powerful military grouping of European fascism in history and the successful post-war restoration of the economy in record time. However, this experience in modern Russia is mostly unsuitable.
Today, unlike the USSR, we have a market economy, freedom of enterprise and private property, a parliamentary republic with separation of powers, the bureaucracy at almost all levels consists of the rich, and the population is accustomed to the Western way of life and preaches liberal democratic values. Even the smoothest transition to a planned economy is impossible due to the dominance of private property and society's perceptions that the state is fundamentally incapable of being more efficient than businessmen. One can only take some individual elements of the Soviet experience for use within the framework of the existing economic system.
We also have the successful experience of China, which has also been subjected to sanctions and isolationism by the West for decades, but its experience is only partially suitable for us. First, China plays a key role in the development of the Chinese economy. политическая organization of power in the Middle Kingdom. In China, everything is decided by the party, the economy is controlled by the party, the movement of capital and labor is controlled by the party, the spiritual life of society is under the most powerful pressure of the party. In our country, this is impossible due to the absence of such a party, the presence of a multi-party system and the almost complete independence of private traders. Secondly, China successfully used its rapprochement with the West for its economic recovery, namely the integration of the Chinese economy into the world market. We are in exactly the opposite situation, despite the fact that the level of our dependence on the world market is higher than that of China.
Iranian experience
However, there is a country that has experience in similar conditions, is also a market, quite parliamentary, but at the same time has fallen into almost complete isolation of the West - this is Iran. There is a similarity in the fact that Iran, like Russia, is a major oil producer. The main difference between Russia and Iran lies in the political organization of power, but it is not so significant, since both in them and in our country the influence of the state on the economy is more of a regulatory nature.
First of all, I dare to assure the reader that the Iranians are by no means vegetating in poverty, barbarism and squalor, as portrayed by the Western media and as it actually happens in those Middle Eastern countries that have embarked on the path of Western-style democracy. The standard of living of the Iranians looks unfavorable when compared with the standards of Western Europe, and only if guided not by the real situation of the people in rich countries, but by propaganda clichés.
The life of the Persians looks especially advantageous through the eyes of a tourist: indecently low prices for a foreigner, cleanliness everywhere, a lot of Iranian and Chinese-made cars drive on good roads, there is a subway and a developed network of land transport, cafes and restaurants with excellent quality local cuisine are everywhere, and then here, then there are objects of thousand-year antiquity and elements stylized as it - buildings, stained-glass windows, carpet decorations. The external authenticity of the Persian civilization, flavored with Islamic ornamentation, is more than enough.
Iran's major cities have long been overrun by Orientally dressed middle class and selfie-taking hipsters. Although the spiritual life of society is under strict religious control, Iran has its own high-quality cinematography, theatrical and literary art without the Western cult of sex, violence and psychopathy. In a sense, the average Iranian lives in a healthier environment than the European and Russian.
Therefore, the recent threats to Russians from McFaul about tourist trains to Tehran are calculated on the arrogance and ignorance of the mostly pro-liberal intellectual youth strata, who know nothing about Iran and firmly believe that there is nothing in the world to look at except Paris and Barcelona.
Parallels with Iran are easy to find, since American policy towards objectionable states has not changed for decades. Since 1979, the US has frozen Iranian gold reserves in its banks and imposed a ban on doing business with the Persians, with sanctions extended to companies in other countries that violated the US ban. In 1980, the US pitted Iraq against Iran, and a devastating eight-year war began. Sanction pressure increased significantly: loans from international organizations were banned, and by 1987 Iran found itself in fact in complete isolation from the West.
Interestingly, before the overthrow of the Shah in 1979 and the seizure of power by the ayatollahs, the Iranian economy was absolutely dependent on foreign of technologies and supplies of a raw material appendage. The Shah and his clique made super profits from the sale of oil and did not pay attention to the development of production and agriculture. Everything changed under the new government, when Iran was completely isolated from the world market and a bloody war with Iraq began. The transformation of the economy and the transition to self-sufficiency went on at a rapid pace, because the regime simply had no other way to survive. The ayatollahs called their economic program "The Economy of Resistance", the essence of which is to minimize the country's dependence on imports. Possessing extremely scarce industrial and human resources, Tehran, by mobilizing the creative forces of the Iranian people, managed not only to survive in the harsh conditions of widespread pressure from external forces, but also to develop a nuclear program. Iran's outstanding achievement is that 20% of the country's budget is spent on scientific and research activities. Therefore, it is not surprising that the CIA and MOSSAD are trying to undermine the potential of Iran by systematically killing scientists, primarily physicists.
A key feature of the Iranian economy is Islamic banking, which prohibits "profits in excess of the norm." Article 595 of the Law on the Islamic Sharia Punishment System in Iran states that usury (riba) is a crime and is punishable by confiscation of profits, a fine in the amount of profits, 74 lashes and a prison term of up to six years. The institution of Islamic banking prevents the formation of financial capital and the subordination of money flow to speculative "bubbles".
Iran's experience has shown that the process of building an independent economy in market conditions stretches for many decades, but this is quite realistic. Another thing is that state ideology plays a key role in the basis of the mobilization of labor force, capital and those few external friendly ties. In Iran, this is revolutionary Islamism. Those who do not follow in the wake of state policy and ideology are subjected to repression and persecution. Due to this, it is possible to suppress corruption, kowtowing before foreigners and private interests that are detrimental to the state.
Iranian society, despite the religious declarations of equality and democracy, is not free from the classic for a market country of polarization. However, the rich strata in Iran are strongly suppressed by the state, the "elites" are brought up in the national spirit of "resistance" and "revolution". Ordinary Iranians live in poverty, they are tormented by unemployment and domestic problems typical of an underdeveloped country. However, the country's food security is ensured, no one is starving, the population has more or less access to medicine: 95% have insurance, which requires paying only 10% of hospitalization costs. Iran was able to increase the number of doctors to 150 thousand people, which is a good indicator for the region. The literacy rate of Iranians is 85%, while the regional average is 60%, and women are not inferior to men in terms of literacy, and this is a major achievement for a Muslim country. Education in Iran is Islamized, public schools are free. There are 440 universities in the country, but higher education is paid.
The ayatollah regime managed to turn Iran into an industrialized and relatively independent country with unenviable starting conditions and meager domestic resources. The experience of Iran makes sense to study. But, one way or another, the success of relying on one's own forces for any economic policy is due to a strong state, mobilization measures and the restriction of freedom of market relations.