You list four stumbling blocks in Central and Eastern Europe’s catching up with the west: unpredictable legal system, cumbersome regulation, inadequate social safety net, and inefficient competition (“Down in the Dumps,” November 7, 2009).  It is hard to argue with any of the above.  But you skip an important obstacle that mars the region: widespread corruption.  The best proxy for this remnant of communist past is the poor and declining freedom of the media, which you reported only a fortnight ago (“Shut Up or Be Sued,” October 24, 2009).  Libel laws are systematically abused to muzzle critics.  As corruption is difficult to measure, this proxy is of enormous value.  The way things stand at present, it will be of increasing value in gauging the development of the entire region as it struggles to get out of the current economic downturn.