janw@inmet.UUCP (09/01/85)
Back in late 60's there was a cholera epidemic sweeping the south
of Russia. The local health authoriries, in reporting the
numbers of cases to the center, diminished them (approxi-
mately) by an order of magnitude. The central authorities, in
reporting the figures to the World Health Organization, reduced
them again by more than an order: thus, many thousands became a few
dozen. Most Soviet epidemics stay concealed from the outside world
(there are even cases of plague).
The only thing I can add to Gabor's masterful characterization
is that "hard" statistics are often as unreliable in the USSR as
soft ones. Strong pressures bend the hardest data...
--Jan Wasilewsky