Rising Hegemon
Sarah Palin says the Soviet Union fell because it spent so much money "winning the space race".
Now history will tell you that's 0 for 2. But maybe the view was different from the Palin porch.
Sputnik, of course, was launched in 1957...only 34 years before the fall of the Soviet Union.
...of course the fall of the USSR had nothing to do with its space program, as can be ascertained as one of the lasting and manageable government expenses of Russia and Kazakhstan.
The Soviets fell because they spent way too much on their military and had internal domestic rot -- against the rigors of maintaining an occupying empire.
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The Soviets fell because they spent way too much on their military and had internal domestic rot -- against the rigors of maintain an occupying empire.
Why does that sound familiar? Are there any other countries in danger of doing the same thing?
The Soviets fell because they spent way too much on their military and had internal domestic rot -- against the rigors of maintain[ing] an occupying empire.
Um, yeah...nicely stated, easy to understand...unless your salary and status as a Washington insider depends on not understanding.
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The Soviets fell because they spent way too much on their military and had internal domestic rot -- against the rigors of maintain an occupying empire.
These factors were merely symptoms but not the underlying cause of failure of Soviet communism. The Soviets fell because over the longterm the collectivist ideology simply isn't sustainable for human beings.
It won't be long now before communist China falls as well.
Give the Hildebeast a break. She was born five years after Sputnick, in Idaho, and they can't see the Soviet Union from there.
She was born five years after Sputnick, in Idaho, ...
I believe in Idaho it's spelled spudnick.
it's hih time we federalized ejumikashun and opened the FEMA re-ejumikashun kamps.
Eh, I guess she got the "space race" mixed up with "Star Wars" (aka SDI). But I have long tired of trying to figure out what she may have meant.
I think somebody should start making odds on the Sarah/Michelle stupid contest. It's definitely intriguing. I for one have a hard time picking the winner.
Oh, and Olive -- These factors were merely symptoms but not the underlying cause of failure of Soviet communism. The Soviets fell because over the longterm the collectivist ideology simply isn't sustainable for human beings.
It won't be long now before communist China falls as well.
The problem with this prediction is that the Chinese long ago abandoned central planning and "collectivist ideology" in favor of crony capitalism. I thought that was pretty generally known.
These factors were merely symptoms but not the underlying cause of failure of Soviet communism. The Soviets fell because over the longterm the collectivist ideology simply isn't sustainable for human beings.
I agree partially, but the collapse of the USSR was also due to friction between its various nationalities.
True, the collectivist ideology has its flaws, but let's be honest, so does laissez-faire capitalism, and neither one is sustainable for human beings--- a mixed economy seems to be the best option, aka "capitalism with a human face"
Gorbachev and his fellow reformers were consciously trying to improve the USSR's abysmal record of human rights and also to end the arms race. They decided to allow the entire communist system to fall rather engage in the kind of Stalinist repression which would probably have provoked nasty civil wars in the USSR and all through the Eastern Bloc, but they never get any credit for that.
It won't be long now before communist China falls as well.
Hmmm... well, OK, I'm not a fan of China's abysmal human rights record either, but I don't honestly foresee its communist government falling anytime soon.
Whatever else you criticize it for--- totalitarianism, ecological destruction, aggression against its neighbors--- it is managing to raise the average Chinese person's living standard, so for that reason it seems unlikely that the Chinese people will rise up against it anytime soon.
Actually, we in the west should be careful what we wish for... right now communist China is the capitalist US's major creditor, and who knows what the hell would happen to the world economy if a new Chinese government were to decide that it didn't want to finance the US anymore....?
...an interesting commentary above at 1:05.
True, the collectivist ideology has its flaws, but let's be honest, so does laissez-faire capitalism,...
Yes, but laissez-faire capitalism doesn't have anything close to the severity of flaws as does collectivism. And not an apples and oranges comparison either, more like apples and freight trains (or in the case of collectivism ... tanks running over people, since that's how the miserable communist system is kept in place)
Clearly, no ideology can be perfect, capitalism and Democracy are certainly no exception.
...."democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried." - Sir Winston Churchill
--- it is managing to raise the average Chinese person's living standard, so for that reason it seems unlikely that the Chinese people will rise up against it anytime soon.
Improved yes but still a shit hole compared to most Western countries. China still is only one tenth GDP per capita in comparison to US or Canada.
And because of the information age Chinese youth will rise up again and this time will have minute by minute broadcasting to the rest of the world if the Chicoms decide to roll the tanks over their people again.
right now communist China is the capitalist US's major creditor, and who knows what the hell would happen to the world economy if a new Chinese government were to decide that it didn't want to finance the US anymore....?
...this is actually an easy question to answer.
Put simply: It won't happen.
The Chinese economy itself would become practically worthless overnight. And the credit that China holds is miniscule as a percentage of US assets (22% of worldwide assets)....
....less than 10 years before the Chicoms fall....
Dumb and Dumber are competing for the tin foil hat demographic.
amerika had more money to waste on the military than USSR. then there was that afghanistan issue.
how much money did we dump into the missile shield?
The Soviets fell because the Founding Fathers worked tirelessly - tirelessly I tells ya - to stamp out the commie menace.
Duh.
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