Russia: Who's Burying Whom?

For all Nikita Khrushchev's boasts of overtaking the West by 1970, an extensive report released by the Central Intelligence Agency last week argues that the Russians are actually falling far behind. In 1962 and 1963, according to the agency's analysis, the Russian economy grew at a rate of less than 2.5% annually, while the U.S. growth rate averaged 5.5% and is expected to expand at that level in 1964 as well. Even if the Russians doubled their gross national product (1962 level: $260 billion) in the next decade, a feat that most experts consider impossible, Soviet output in 1972...

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