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>>doomed to crack under the economic strain Actually any normal country would not have wanted to match the US's military spending. It is precisely, this crazy,

>>doomed to crack under the economic strain Actually any normal country would not have wanted to match the US's military spending. It is precisely, this crazy, paranoid, militaristic bureaucracy that people criticize - not the mention any human rights issues.

wz1000 10y ago
'Any normal country' doesn't have it's ideological basis declared US public enemy #1, and its growing influence deemed by a "crazy, paranoid militaristic bureaucracy" to be the greatest threat civilization has ever faced. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scare
- wtbob 10y ago
  The Red Scare wasn't pure paranoia: it was in reaction to a legitimate threat. The COMINTERN really did want to overthrow the governments of all other countries, and the members thereof really did work towards that goal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_International https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_International
  - tim333 10y ago
    Indeed, there was quite a bit of govenment overthrowing, mostly at gunpoint and backed by the USSR. Of the The Black Book of Communism's 94 million estimated victims 74m were outside the USSR so there were issues there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Book_of_Communism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Book_of_Communism
- frozenport 10y ago
  As mentioned by OP the US invested considerably less resources as a fraction of the total trying to fight communism. Contemporary Russian domestic propaganda draws a direct line between the so called "heroic" sacrifices the Soviet people made ( a majority of which were self inflicted) and the sacrifices Russians will yet again make due to EU import bans - which we recall is due to them invading the Ukraine.
crdoconnor 10y ago
>Actually any normal country would not have wanted to match the US's military spending. It's pretty normal behavior for most countries to react defensively and aggressively when threatened. Hence: * USA puts nukes in Turkey => USSR puts nukes in Cuba. * USA puts nukes on the Korean DMZ => North Korea creates nuclear weapons program. What's fucking weird is how American propaganda manages to successfully depict these kinds of actions as the unprovoked behaviors of crazed madmen. The same kind of attitude towards Iran is common, too.
- reitanqild 10y ago
  > USA puts nukes in Turkey => USSR puts nukes in Cuba. Well, let's not forget Hungary and Poland, shall we? > The same kind of attitude towards Iran is common, too. Iran is pretty agressive in its rethoric on how it wants to wipe out a certain democracy by the Mediterranean.
  - ciupicri 10y ago
    Do you have more details about this?
    - reitanqild 10y ago
      Wikipedia has: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union#Khrushchev_era https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union#Khrushchev_era https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Soviet_Union_(1953%E2%80%9364) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Soviet_Union_(1...
  - shitgoose 10y ago
    "let's not forget Hungary and Poland" Hungary and Poland had nukes?? "Iran ... wants to wipe out a certain..." Iran wants to wipe out, US are wiping out the whole countries and don't seem to know how to stop.
    - reitanqild 10y ago
      > Hungary and Poland had nukes?? No, they tried to get independent from USSR. Even the somewhat liberal USSR government at that time decided to crush them. > Iran wants to wipe out, US are wiping out the whole countries and don't seem to know how to stop. I cannot and will not defend everything US does and I freely admit they have made a lot of questionable moves over the years. Still broadly hyperbolic statements like yours doesn't help I think. US is more of a clumsy and somewhat selfish giant than an evil giant but many (including myself and my parents) are very happy that US has intervened in a number of conflicts as well as made clear that the rest of Europe wasn't up for taking. (Modern Russia doesn't seem to evil either but former USSR proved to be a legitimate source of concern for smaller countries with common borders.)

wz1000 10y ago

'Any normal country' doesn't have it's ideological basis declared US public enemy #1, and its growing influence deemed by a "crazy, paranoid militaristic bureaucracy" to be the greatest threat civilization has ever faced. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scare

wtbob 10y ago
The Red Scare wasn't pure paranoia: it was in reaction to a legitimate threat. The COMINTERN really did want to overthrow the governments of all other countries, and the members thereof really did work towards that goal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_International https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_International
- tim333 10y ago
  Indeed, there was quite a bit of govenment overthrowing, mostly at gunpoint and backed by the USSR. Of the The Black Book of Communism's 94 million estimated victims 74m were outside the USSR so there were issues there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Book_of_Communism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Book_of_Communism
frozenport 10y ago
As mentioned by OP the US invested considerably less resources as a fraction of the total trying to fight communism. Contemporary Russian domestic propaganda draws a direct line between the so called "heroic" sacrifices the Soviet people made ( a majority of which were self inflicted) and the sacrifices Russians will yet again make due to EU import bans - which we recall is due to them invading the Ukraine.

crdoconnor 10y ago

>Actually any normal country would not have wanted to match the US's military spending. It's pretty normal behavior for most countries to react defensively and aggressively when threatened. Hence: * USA puts nukes in Turkey => USSR puts nukes in Cuba. * USA puts nukes on the Korean DMZ => North Korea creates nuclear weapons program. What's fucking weird is how American propaganda manages to successfully depict these kinds of actions as the unprovoked behaviors of crazed madmen. The same kind of attitude towards Iran is common, too.

reitanqild 10y ago
> USA puts nukes in Turkey => USSR puts nukes in Cuba. Well, let's not forget Hungary and Poland, shall we? > The same kind of attitude towards Iran is common, too. Iran is pretty agressive in its rethoric on how it wants to wipe out a certain democracy by the Mediterranean.
- ciupicri 10y ago
  Do you have more details about this?
  - reitanqild 10y ago
    Wikipedia has: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union#Khrushchev_era https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union#Khrushchev_era https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Soviet_Union_(1953%E2%80%9364) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Soviet_Union_(1...
- shitgoose 10y ago
  "let's not forget Hungary and Poland" Hungary and Poland had nukes?? "Iran ... wants to wipe out a certain..." Iran wants to wipe out, US are wiping out the whole countries and don't seem to know how to stop.
  - reitanqild 10y ago
    > Hungary and Poland had nukes?? No, they tried to get independent from USSR. Even the somewhat liberal USSR government at that time decided to crush them. > Iran wants to wipe out, US are wiping out the whole countries and don't seem to know how to stop. I cannot and will not defend everything US does and I freely admit they have made a lot of questionable moves over the years. Still broadly hyperbolic statements like yours doesn't help I think. US is more of a clumsy and somewhat selfish giant than an evil giant but many (including myself and my parents) are very happy that US has intervened in a number of conflicts as well as made clear that the rest of Europe wasn't up for taking. (Modern Russia doesn't seem to evil either but former USSR proved to be a legitimate source of concern for smaller countries with common borders.)