The arrival in St. Petersburg, FL, of its newest permanent attraction, the Soviet submarine U-484, which was sold by the Russians for $1 million and which saw active duty as recently as 1994, raises the interesting possibility that other cash-strapped nations may sell pieces of themselves to America's tourism industry to keep their economies afloat.

What's to stop the government of Cuba, for example, from extending feelers to the Air & Space Museum in Washington to purchase the entire Cuban air force - a matchless collection of biplanes, autogyros, and one attack Zeppelin? Perhaps the Serbian government in Bosnia, would like to offer individuals from its vast selection of ethnic minorities to "any American tourist attraction in need of Wild West shootout victims, medieval jousting casualties, Civil War reenactment battlefield corpses, really, anyone." And we can't wait to hear rumors of an imminent deal between Universal Studios and factions within the Indonesian government, which would send the entire Suharto ruling family to southern California as part of a new attraction based on The Munster's.

[03/15/1998]