Forums → WEPR → ☭ The Cold War ☭

Well, many Western nations have the ridiculous notion that communism is some how "evil".

Communism is good in theory, not in practice.

Communism is good in theory, not in practice.

Well, many Western nations have the ridiculous notion that communism is some how "evil".

So that answers another thread about American Greatness: Yes, we are the best. If you have a problem with that, would you like to tour our vast nuclear arsenal? No? Though so.

I don't see how there is much of an effect. Yes, we are still a little stand-offish towards Russia, but I don't see much else.

Also, the fall of Communism in '89 left the US as the only Super Power left, making us the only ones sitting at the table.

If you have a problem with that, would you like to tour our vast nuclear arsenal? No? Though so.

So that answers another thread about American Greatness: Yes, we are the best.

According to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, American 15-year-olds rank 17th in the world in science; 25th in math; 12th among developed countries in college education (just 25 years ago, we were #1). The USA is 79th in elementary school enrollment. The infrastructure ranks 23rd in the world. As for health, the USA is 27th in life expectancy, 18th in diabetes incidents, and 1st in obesity. However, there are areas where the USA excells. It has the highest crime rate of any right country. It has the world's largest export of pornography. It is #1 in illegal drug usage, and #1 in the export of movies and tv shows. Finally, it has the largest prison population in the world.

On that basis Russia is better, they have the largest nuclear arsenal in the world.

In what? Let me quote myself:

The USA loses to Russia.

Take a look at China and other countries. They are rising pretty fast, while we're slowly dropping.

lingering effects of the Cold war

What? I've read a lot that most of their nuclear warheads are old and pointless.
They have nuclear contamination in many of their freshwater streams.
And that we have more Nukes. Could you send an article? I've never heard Russia's got more Nukes. Ever.

The question of American "greatness" was answered quite elegantly in the film Thank You For Smoking when Nick Nailer is discussing it with his son, Joey, but that's not really what I want to spend my time discussing in this thread.

The fall of Soviet Russia, obviously, affected the Russian people far more than it did the United States. During Glasnost and Perestroika, entrepreneurship was growing roots in Russia, but most notably in the form of illegal mob activity. After the fall the USSR in '91 these illegal business ventures shifted to more legitimate means of business, with the financial backing of those that made their wealth in the 80's. This group of "new Russians" and oligarchs (as they are often called to this day in the Russian Federation) has been in direct economic and political conflict with the old powers of the KGB (in many ways now transferred to the FSB). A prime example of this would be Vladimir Putin representing the old KGB powers, while somebody like Boris Berezovsky (who is now in political exile in the UK). Around '98 or '99, there was a shift from the traditional government powers to the former KGB powers in Russia (again, also in conflict as they were in the USSR). As it stands, the Russian economy functions in a sort of neo-fascist, or perhaps semi-fascist, system. That is, there are a vast number of corporate industries that are now run by members of the Russian government (i.e., Gazprom has, through government legislation, consumed much of the natural gas industry, which is critical to the Russian economy as they are one of, if not the, primary exporters to the European Union). Media is still highly restricted in Russia, or I should say Russia has banned many forms of independent journalism since the fall of the USSR and subsequent pro-journalism legislation. In many ways, you can say what you want in independent media as long as it is not on television, a major newspaper, or broadcasted over the radio, so access to this information is highly restricted (look at the under publicized works of the late Anna Politkovskaya, and even at her death).

As far as the political atmosphere among the Russian people there is a great sense of an identity crisis haunting them. With the loss of the USSR came the loss of a Russian identity, leading directly to the rise of nationalism, neo-nazism, and fascism within the country (check out the attention Aleksandr Dugin gets and his political ideologies that almost parallel those of Adolf Hitler's and other extremists that take an "us vs. them" stance).

I could go on, but I'd rather focus on individual questions/comments than give a summary of my knowledge.

Source: I'm a Russian Studies minor at the University of Colorado, and much of this information was obtained through both personal research and a course by Prof. Tatiana Mikhailova, who is a well-rounded scholar on modern Russia.