Ed Weick wrote:
>
> Brad McCormick:
>
> >Russia wasn't flushed down any entropy toilet: It was
> >flushed down the *economic* toilet (i.e., its head was placed
> >under the water and held there till the body stopped
> >struggling) by the "White" forces (the good guys always
> >come in white!) of global capitalism.
> >
> >Surely Stalin was
> >highly "entropic", but the West's strategy of
[This was not a good matephor, because Stalin produced
a lot of *order* ("negative entropy") as well as
disorder (kulaks, Trotsky, whatever parts of the
Gulag ate more than they produced, etc.).]
> >*strangling* the Soviet economy to cause the Russian
> >peole to revolt -- a policy which began in 1917 and
> >finally "succeeded" a few years ago (that's at least 70
> >years' sustained intention) cannot be called "entropy"
> >but rather malice of purpose. Reagan was *so* proud of
> >his "greatest achievement": that the victim finally
> >suffocated on his watch!
>
> I don't think this is right.
[snip]
> As well, the fact that a considerable proportion of GNP was devoted to the
> military,
[snip]
I am finding it worthy of remark that, now, even the
most respectable "organs" (remember that word?) of
capitalist journalism treat it as a
truism that, essentially,
The Soviet Union collapsed because its economy wasn't
big enough to produce both guns and butter -- unlike
The United States, *and* that this was the underlying
"game plan" of the Cold War: to force the Communists
to spend more than they could afford on armaments,
to drive them to [economic, not just moral] bankruptcy.
I guess George Kennan [in his famous "X" article
in Foreign Affairs, ca. 1948] didn't mention *this*
aspect of the policy of economic strangulation because
either he didn't understand it, or else because he did
know and it was **THE* SUPERSECRET SUPERWEAPON*!
I think it reflects badly on the left analysts
in the West that they apparently missed this point which,
had it been *WIDELY PUBLICIZED IN THE 50s and 60s*,
might -- just might -- have helped the Soviet Union
address its real threats from the West. Well,
who knows who knew what, and I certainly do not
wish to imply that I think the Soviet government
was anything good for its people, but, given the
choice, I think I'd probably rather live under
Khruschev (and definitely, Tito!) than Yeltsin's
(or the Serbo-Croatian) social devolution.
The "net": We strangled Communism in a way
that was even cleverer than anyone imagined.
The whole thermonuclear arms race was either
a brilliant plot by or an incredible stroke of good
luck for the West, in that it accomplished the
evisceration of the Soviet economy *from
within* that we could never bring about
vis-a-vis a country so rich in natural resources
and people willing to sacrifice without
limit for "mother Russia", that no blockade
from without could make it happen. God
blessed America....
\brad mccormick
--
Mankind is not the master of all the stuff that exists, but
Everyman (woman, child) is a judge of the world.
Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
914.238.0788 / 27 Poillon Rd, Chappaqua, NY 10514-3403 USA
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