4 ms·

Yeah, people underestimate how important the US/Soviet rivalry was towards the overall ambition of American policies. Having poor quality infrastructure and a p

Yeah, people underestimate how important the US/Soviet rivalry was towards the overall ambition of American policies. Having poor quality infrastructure and a poor disgruntled populis was unacceptable as it would be taciturn to admitting defeat. As soon as we lost an enemy, we lost a large amount of institutional motivation to be exceptional

cpursley 4y ago
Looks like that's about to change (back) for better or worse. The unipolar world was never really tenable. I can't think of any major problems that the US government solved since the USSR collapsed. Maybe a little competition at the international level is needed.
- thrown_22 4y ago
  With who? China is a third world country and Russia is making itself into one.
  - int_19h 4y ago
    In terms of quality of life, USSR was also a third world country. But a third world country with aircraft carriers and ICBMs is a very different story for those who have to interact with it.
    - thrown_22 4y ago
      The USSR was by definition a second world country. Third world countries in the in the 1960 had life expectancy on the order of 35 years. The USSR twice that at 67. Colonialism was not a picnic for the people colonialised.
      - int_19h 4y ago
        "Third world" can cover a lot of ground. Argentina was and remains third world, for example, and its life expectancy was 65 years in 1960, so same ballpark as USSR. And to remind, much of USSR was (and much of Russia still is) colonized people. That, too, translated to rather big differences between the central European part of Russia and, say, Turkmenistan.
- s1artibartfast 4y ago
  What makes you think that? If anything I think the state of the world today is strong evidence that is more unipolar than ever. The US has demonstrated that it no longer takes threats of MAD seriously and we'll destabilize any country that doesn't fall in line. Look to the obvious situation with Russia and continued pressure to sanction and damage the Chinese economy. The only way I see this unipolar situation reversing is if someone actually lets some nukes fly
  - sofixa 4y ago
    > The US has demonstrated that it no longer takes threats of MAD seriously and we'll destabilize any country that doesn't fall in line. Look to the obvious situation with Russia How is Russia invading Ukraine, and many countries, including the US, supporting the righteous Ukrainian defence effort any different than what happened during the Cold War in Vietnam, Afghanistan, a bunch of civil wars? MAD is still at play. If it were not, there'd be NATO troops at least from Poland helping defend Ukraine against the Russian agression. And yes, Russia deserves punishment for it's brutal invasion of a neutral country with genocidal methods. Sanctions are the only possibility that doesn't result in nukes flying today, but sanctions it is. Every time a dictator's land grab wasn't responded to, but appeased, they just came back for more (Hitler, Stalin, Putin, Saddam Hussein).
  - rat87 4y ago
    The US takes MAD very seriously. Russia started this mess in its own, and we have made clear we will respond with force to any nuclear attack
selimthegrim 4y ago
s/taciturn/tantamount

cpursley 4y ago

Looks like that's about to change (back) for better or worse. The unipolar world was never really tenable. I can't think of any major problems that the US government solved since the USSR collapsed. Maybe a little competition at the international level is needed.

thrown_22 4y ago
With who? China is a third world country and Russia is making itself into one.
- int_19h 4y ago
  In terms of quality of life, USSR was also a third world country. But a third world country with aircraft carriers and ICBMs is a very different story for those who have to interact with it.
  - thrown_22 4y ago
    The USSR was by definition a second world country. Third world countries in the in the 1960 had life expectancy on the order of 35 years. The USSR twice that at 67. Colonialism was not a picnic for the people colonialised.
    - int_19h 4y ago
      "Third world" can cover a lot of ground. Argentina was and remains third world, for example, and its life expectancy was 65 years in 1960, so same ballpark as USSR. And to remind, much of USSR was (and much of Russia still is) colonized people. That, too, translated to rather big differences between the central European part of Russia and, say, Turkmenistan.
s1artibartfast 4y ago
What makes you think that? If anything I think the state of the world today is strong evidence that is more unipolar than ever. The US has demonstrated that it no longer takes threats of MAD seriously and we'll destabilize any country that doesn't fall in line. Look to the obvious situation with Russia and continued pressure to sanction and damage the Chinese economy. The only way I see this unipolar situation reversing is if someone actually lets some nukes fly
- sofixa 4y ago
  > The US has demonstrated that it no longer takes threats of MAD seriously and we'll destabilize any country that doesn't fall in line. Look to the obvious situation with Russia How is Russia invading Ukraine, and many countries, including the US, supporting the righteous Ukrainian defence effort any different than what happened during the Cold War in Vietnam, Afghanistan, a bunch of civil wars? MAD is still at play. If it were not, there'd be NATO troops at least from Poland helping defend Ukraine against the Russian agression. And yes, Russia deserves punishment for it's brutal invasion of a neutral country with genocidal methods. Sanctions are the only possibility that doesn't result in nukes flying today, but sanctions it is. Every time a dictator's land grab wasn't responded to, but appeased, they just came back for more (Hitler, Stalin, Putin, Saddam Hussein).
- rat87 4y ago
  The US takes MAD very seriously. Russia started this mess in its own, and we have made clear we will respond with force to any nuclear attack

selimthegrim 4y ago

s/taciturn/tantamount