but it turned out his re-election was really something to worry about. the country was kind of a mess, the government was broke. yeltsin was broke in terms of the assets and money he needed to mount his re-election campaign. and by 96, by the time he was running for re-election, there was this ongoing process of the former soviet union selling off what had been government-owned enterprises. they were deep into the process of privatizing what had been a totally state-run economy. but in order to finance his re-election in 1996, which he was very worried about, yeltsin came up with a particularly terrible scheme. for turning this ongoing dodgy privatization process into something that would specifically result in him getting cash for his re-election effort. and the scheme was basically an auction scheme. through this auction scheme, banks would loan the yeltsin government money, cash, and as collateral for the loan, what the government put up was big stakes in big government-run busines
mexico and cuba are getting chummy tonight. their presidents met today and announced plans to cooperate in business, tourism and education. this comes as relations between the u.s. and cuba continued to evolve. tonight in the second part of our look at the opportunities and challenges in cuba. correspondent rich edison tells us from havana, how some things are changing and some are not. from soviet-era autos to rationing, cuba maintains many signs ralph centralized state-run economy. three loaves of bread. despite recent openness, amnesty international says civil and political rights continue to be severely restricted by cuban authorities. they are controlling everything. ? i tell myself. it was better. we were free. following fidel castro s seizure of power in 1959, the u.s. severed diplomatic relations with cuba and initiated a broad-based embargo.
mexico and cuba are getting chummy tonight. their presidents met today and announced plans to cooperate in business, tourism and education. this comes as relations between the u.s. and cuba continued to evolve. tonight in the second part of our look at the opportunities and challenges in cuba. correspondent rich edison tells us from havana, how some things are changing and some are not. from soviet-era autos to rationing, cuba maintains many signs ralph centralized state-run economy. three loaves of bread. despite recent openness, amnesty international says civil and political rights continue to be severely restricted by cuban authorities. they are controlling everything. ? i tell myself. it was better. we were free. following fidel castro s seizure of power in 1959, the u.s. severed diplomatic relations with cuba and
greg: by the year 2030, america will no long ber the only super power. according to global trends 2030, the u.s. will be first among equals as brazil, india and china continue to rise. communist china works. i wonder if he would be willing to report state run economy. i doubt the white house cares. being number two means never being number one. if you believe exceptionalism is quaint you don t like being number one to begin with. we no longer refer to achieveer as successful. we call them rich to make them target for withdrawal. if you are good at what you do
a complex near harasta. explosions could be heard. syrian activists say more than 9 # people have been killed in protests over the past two days. cnn cannot confirm these reports. hamid karzai has summoned 2,000 leaders and elders to kabul for a meeting. the grand council session will discuss the country s future peace plans and its relations with the united states. mr. karzai will also announce the next areas where afghan troops will take control from nato forces. italy could begin to see its new government take shape in just a few hours when the prime minister-designate mario monti is expected to lay out his cabinet choices. his first order of business, working to cut italy s massive debt. those are the top stories. i m monita rajpal. world business today starts right now. good morning from cnn london, i m nien that dos santos. good afternoon from cnn hong kong. welcome. these are our top stories wednesday, november the 16th. and caution remains the watch word among