two percent annually through the early 1980s. The
U.S. Central Intelligence Agency estimates that the So- viet military now consumes a staggering 15 to 17 percent of the Soviet gross national prod- uct. (US. military spending amounts to six percent of GNP.) Yet, Aslund notes, "it is difficult to find any informed Soviet citizen who believes in earnest that it is less than . . .22 to 30 percent."
Looking back at the Soviet's last major attempt at economic reform, in 1965, Aslund says...