13 Comments
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Marc Handelsman's avatar

Thank you for your insightful article. The way the Soviet Union collapsed was a mistake because it created substantial instability in the Russian Federation. Unfortunately, there was no orderly transition from the USSR to the Russian Federation. Marxism left a trail of death and destruction. Sadly, the West is heading in the same direction as the former Soviet Union. Russia learned lessons from the collapse of the USSR and has persevered through many challenges.

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Chris's avatar

The US has an adversary to fight: that's China. And China is clearly winning. That's the new Cold War.

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James Doone's avatar

China is thinking, planning and acting civilisationally, it is planning for centuries, whereas America has grown fat at the top and is suffering under the false ideology of liberalism.

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The AI Architect's avatar

Brilliant take on civilizational competition as necesary stimulus. The Rocky IV analogy is kinda perfect because it shows how rivalry doesn't just make nations stronger but actuallyforces institutional seriousness. I remember working in defence research in the 90s and the shift after USSR dissolved was palpable (suddenly no urgency). The idea that America's current stagnation stems partly from lacking a peer competitior is underrated in most analysis.

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GLO's avatar

Jonathan Bowden famously said that communism rots the the body capitalism rots the soul. The Soviet Union froze Eastern Europe in the 1960's up to the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

Ironically the incompetence of stagnation of the Soviet system was far healthier than the active rot of the west.

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Ugric Mongol's avatar

Fortunately East Europe is waking up to this as they still remember, being only under mental occupation since 1990. For the since 1945 occupied ones the mental rot is terminal.

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James Doone's avatar

Americanism, more revolutionary than Bolshevism.

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GLO's avatar

Cuba is pretty conservative compared to the US for exactly this reason

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James Doone's avatar

Modern USA makes Stalin look like a medieval king in matters of social issues.

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William's avatar

The creation of the Soviet Union was a much worse disaster

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James Doone's avatar

Agreed. Better Tsarist Russia survived.

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Andersen's avatar

I came to this World to shove your sword up your restless ass.

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Oldandintheway's avatar

The genius of Putin is that he sensed that America had gone soft -- too many monopolies run by oligarchs. No competition; the working class was suffering and angry. Putin used "The Force" to take control of Trump's mind. Trump thought he and Putin would be partners in ruling the world. Putin saw Trump for what he is, a fool and a puppet. America has been sucked in by the dancing show-pony who Putin supported with social media lies and money. But now the pony can't dance or remember his lines. Who knows what will replace him, or how soon? Americans are greedy and racist, but only to a point. They really don't like to follow leaders. They are not trained the way Russians are. Trump hung around too long.

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