[jbooth]

Compared to their neighbors? After adjusting for a worldwide-unique embargo?

Honestly, I'm not into communism and am very surprised that their figures are as good as they are. It's dumbfounding.'

I guess it's more a statement of how hard it is to come up from the bottom whatever your system is. Russia and China both showed great results in their first couple 5-year plans before communism petered out and didn't deliver further gains.