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> Am I the only one somewhat concerned over the absolutely blatant declarations that Russia is now our enemy again? Something's definitely fishy about the resu

> Am I the only one somewhat concerned over the absolutely blatant declarations that Russia is now our enemy again? Something's definitely fishy about the resurgence of the anti-Russia propaganda in the United States. I recently found a copy of The Soviet Achievement (1967) [1] in a library's discarded booksale. From the jacket: "... This is a study of the deliberate creation of a new industrial society from a relatively backward, underdeveloped and basically rural country. Mr. Nettl illustrates the shifting balance between theory and practice, the attempt to apply Marxist ideology to practical problems, and the evolution of those distinctively Soviet solutions which have made the USSR one of the two dominating world powers. ..." [1] https://books.google.com/books?id=z81BAAAAIAAJ https://books.google.com/books?id=z81BAAAAIAAJ My impression is that the Soviets were never the villains that they were portrayed to be in the West. They knew they were behind, couldn't keep up with the US, and were quite afraid of western efforts to subjugate them. I like Scott Adams' take on 'blaming the Russians': When Clinton’s surrogates respond to questions about Wikileaks by saying the Russians are behind it, that’s an acknowledgment of guilt. Guilty people almost always question the source of the information first. Innocent people start with a clear denial, or sometimes confusion as to why the question is being asked. - http://blog.dilbert.com/post/151933602961/lie-detection-and-scandals http://blog.dilbert.com/post/151933602961/lie-detection-and-...

danudey 10y ago
The Adams quote, as with a lot of other things that Scott Adams has said lately, is pretty biased. 'Because they said things this way they're obviously guilty' even though that's a huge leap in logic. It's the kind of thing you would say when you want to paint someone you dislike in a negative light in a way that's difficult to outright refute (because it makes no logical sense). > "My impression is that the Soviets were never the villains that they were portrayed to be in the West. They knew they were behind, couldn't keep up with the US, and were quite afraid of western efforts to subjugate them." Well, the Stalin government killed millions of people, had massive propaganda campaigns, and was rife with corruption. They certainly felt there was an existential threat, as did the US and other western nations, but that's not surprising in that sort of political environment. Were they villains? Well, not necessarily. Undoubtedly there were a lot of officials who truly believed in the cause they were supporting, but there was also a lot of self-serving abuse of power that started at the top and worked its way down, at the expense of the citizens (to a larger and more extreme extent than what happens in the West). TL;DR very few people are truly evil but it's hard to imagine the soviets as good guys either; the same is true of the current Russian government, which is very apparently corrupt and frequently abuses its power and, lately, starts wars it knows it can get away with, so there's a very tangible sense that Russia's current motives are bad for the majority of people, including Russian citizens.

danudey 10y ago

The Adams quote, as with a lot of other things that Scott Adams has said lately, is pretty biased. 'Because they said things this way they're obviously guilty' even though that's a huge leap in logic. It's the kind of thing you would say when you want to paint someone you dislike in a negative light in a way that's difficult to outright refute (because it makes no logical sense). > "My impression is that the Soviets were never the villains that they were portrayed to be in the West. They knew they were behind, couldn't keep up with the US, and were quite afraid of western efforts to subjugate them." Well, the Stalin government killed millions of people, had massive propaganda campaigns, and was rife with corruption. They certainly felt there was an existential threat, as did the US and other western nations, but that's not surprising in that sort of political environment. Were they villains? Well, not necessarily. Undoubtedly there were a lot of officials who truly believed in the cause they were supporting, but there was also a lot of self-serving abuse of power that started at the top and worked its way down, at the expense of the citizens (to a larger and more extreme extent than what happens in the West). TL;DR very few people are truly evil but it's hard to imagine the soviets as good guys either; the same is true of the current Russian government, which is very apparently corrupt and frequently abuses its power and, lately, starts wars it knows it can get away with, so there's a very tangible sense that Russia's current motives are bad for the majority of people, including Russian citizens.