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Curious as to how Gorbachev would look back on his comment about state of affairs in 'Europe' relative to Russia.....
'Every apartment in the 'European home' has the right to protect itself from burglars, but it must do it without destroying its neighbor's property'.
No matter if Gorbachev was for glasnost or the difficulties of perestroika at bottom he was a committed Leninist and one beaming over the 'October Revolution'. Ideologically a firm socialist and one ostensibly for 'peaceful coexistence'. Would be interesting in what he'd say if asked clarification on his previous statement in light of the current situation off his border.
What you wrote was laughable indeed. You make out the USSR was in a race with the USA. The only race the USSR was in ensuring its defence was up to leading edge. Its people did not know much about he USA or cared either. The USSR was very inward looking and was having difficulty in maintaining a union of states with differing race, religion and cultures. The basic needs of its people were well met.
Perhaps from BlackShoe leaving such a big footprint on your forehead, you have red stars in your eyes and cannot see the history of the USSR and communism for what it is/was. The legacy of communism can be found in North Korea and Cuba, look and learn. Just about everything you have said in this thread is incorrect. China does not use communism anymore, it switched in the 90's and began to embrace free market capitalism while remaining a single party dictatorship. They have corporations in China, wake up and smell the coffee John.
The USSR was not in a race with the US ? Are you kidding me ? We get the bomb, they get the bomb, they get a satellite, we get a satellite, they put a man in space, we put one in space, ect ect. What about all the hoopla surrounding the Olympic Games, jeez, no race for superiority there. And gosh, the USSR was so inward looking with Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, Afghanistan, they had no intent on expansion whatsoever lol.
The basic needs of the people were well met in the USSR ? Right John, using your time off from work to stand in line for hours waiting for spoiled food was really meeting the needs of the people. That union of states under the USSR was so difficult to maintain, they might have had to send in over 2% of their armed forces to keep Hungary and Czechoslovakia in line when they rebelled......must have been so hard for the USSR to hold things together, how did they ever manage it ?
Thank god Gorbachev led them out of that cesspool, Russia should consider him a hero. Putin is a fool for what he has done to Russia, he's not half the man Gorbachev was.
. China does not use communism anymore, it switched in the 90's and began to embrace free market capitalism while remaining a single party dictatorship. They have corporations in China, wake up and smell the coffee John.
Actually China began using elements of capitalism in the 70s, but don't be mistaken, they're still a command economy. "State capitalism" would be a good description of their economic ideology and their political ideology overall is actually very similar to Nazism. Basically China today has all of the worst things about both capitalism and state socialism.
Actually China began using elements of capitalism in the 70s, but don't be mistaken, they're still a command economy. "State capitalism" would be a good description of their economic ideology and their political ideology overall is actually very similar to Nazism. Basically China today has all of the worst things about both capitalism and state socialism.
This is not quite right either, I would say they should just come clean and outright admit who they based their economic model on and pay homage to their creator, Richard Nixon.
Nixonomics is better than capitalism, socialism, or communism. It's the wave of the future.
The usual nonsense from Comrade John, the America bashing Anglophile that has never given the USA one bit of credit for winning the wars against freedom's foes. The USA had a great deal to do with the end of the Evil Empire, as Reagan so aptly named it. Unlike leftists in the USA and around the world, the Reagan Administration and American Conservatives determined that the Cold War was winnable, and that communism could be checked and the USSR ended as a major threat. Liberals have never forgiven Reagan for this, since for decades they have cooed and gurgled at what their communist masters have done. There is no longer such a thing as an anti-communist liberal, that term is an oxymoron. The last one died in 1983. That was the year the nation lost Herry Jackson, the Democratic Senator from Washington. Scoop was pretty liberal on social and fiscal issues, but he was an absolute hardliner on national defense, and had no illusions about the Soviet Union, and detested the Russians.
In no area could the USSR compete with the USA; economically, socially, or militarily, and the Reagan Conservatives knew and exploited these weaknesses. Communism is a failed unworkable system that could be and was defeated, not only politically, but also economically, by simply outspending the bastards.
What you wrote was laughable indeed. You make out the USSR was in a race with the USA. The only race the USSR was in ensuring its defence was up to leading edge. Its people did not know much about he USA or cared either. The USSR was very inward looking and was having difficulty in maintaining a union of states with differing race, religion and cultures. The basic needs of its people were well met.
I agree, and the signs were there for a long time. Stalin would have had everyone who stepped foreward to disagree killed, even if he only suspected they might feel that way. But it was a huge beaurocracy, and as small signs of resistance took root. And ultimately with the economy 'controlled' it simply drove the consumer one underground. Its not unrealistic to say that part of the downfall was bluegeans. Symbollicly at least, the Russian people embraced the west before their leaders were willing to give. When the population is no longer willing or intimidated, the ones in power have in effect lost their control.
As the satalite states fell away, the writing was on the wall. It's interesting that the hardliners with power had not given in even at the end, and when Brezniev dissapeared, nobody knew if he was alive. That was the night my son was born. I watched up until personal matters became more vital But I remember I wanted to go home and see what happened.
When I was in college, we had a lot of discussion of the Soviets and their system, and we had a debate which was part of the exam grade. One question was could they stand. I remember that I argued that ultimatly it was no, because as information got inside, and people knew more, and their society failed to provide their needs, the time would come when it wasn't good enough and they would push back. Blue jeans proved to be the perfect example.
You're right!!! Hehe looking back I could've made a fortune while traveling in Eastern Europe during those days selling them. I was afraid sometimes I was going to lose my pants around there. The kids loved them. Really I'd say 'blue jeans' figured prominently in adjusting the attitudes of people there to the West. Have to say sartorial matters indeed helped in the job and I would not leave out western rock'n'roll......;-)...
The biggest contribution to the fall of the Soviet Union came from within. There is no one point that stands out. One thing is clear the USA had nothing to do with it.
Also the fall of Communism? Or the breakup of the union?
Communism hasn't exactly gone away in the old Soviet republics.
China is still largely Communist although it was not a part of the USSR.
Total nonsense. The fact that the United States began a huge arms buildup in response to the Soviet Union's aggressive foreign policy of the 70s pretty much sent the Soviet economy spinning into the ditch. Gorbachev said as much.
China is a Communist state in name only today. In truth it's a corporatist state with Communist trappings. Even so, it's a country that's going to be coming apart at the seams over the next several years. The internal contradictions created by the Chinese command-and-control approach are beginning to make themselves felt.
Of course, just ask Bill O'Reilly. According to him I'm a far right wing loon. Luckily for the free world, there are several hundred thousand more of us in the USA and other nations. Were there not, the Hammer & Sickle would be fluttering from our flagpoles all over the globe, and Marx, Engels, and Lenin would be required studies in our schools.
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But I remember I wanted to go home and see what happened.
