For all practical reasons, now may be worst than then
for ex-soviets and third-worlders simply because this
is a uni-polar world where there is no shelter from
those who practice the art of imperialism. Also,
Social welfare measurement that are based in some
measure on the Russell's paradox "at which level of
famine do you give a man sack of wheat or the right to
vote" can tell you this. Of course if social welfare
is measured in abstract freedom with an empty stomach,
then now is better than then. Whatever that was, i.e.
soviet international relations, is no more, and there
were many mistakes in it as any practical activity
would; the structural shift in international
relations, left many "iron bowl of rice" (this by the
way allegorical) regimes uncovered. The cold war was a
war that is also very frigid. At zero Kelvin hell may
be a better place. And as a reminder of some
statistics of the long forgotten central Asian
republics see the UNICEF MONEE database for an
eye-opener of how long the transition will take or has
any one ever transited out of the quagmire of
underdevelopment without putting the politics of
national autonomy + equality of condition first.
--- Charles Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>
>
> >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 02/01/01 06:03PM >>>
> The USSR quite sensibly backed off from nuclear war
> with the US over
> Cuba--Khrushchev, unlike Kennedy, having more brains
> than testosterone. The
> bet, not a crazy one, though wrong, in putting
> missiles in Cuba, was that
> the US would respond sanely without postering. The
> assertion that the USSR
> had an internationalist foreign policy is
> unsupported, and also nonsense.
>
> (((((((((
>
> CB: It is supported by the fact of their supporting
> Cuba, and many other national liberation movements.
> Your assertion that it is nonsense is what is
> unsupported .
>
> ))))))))))
>
>
>
> The USSR supported national liberation and socialism
> where it conformed to
> Soviet natioan interests, and not where not.
>
> ((((((((
>
> CB: Confronting the U.S. to the point of potential
> nuclear war was not Soviet national interests. It
> was dangerous to Soviet national interests. Why risk
> getting nuc'ed for a small island with no net
> economic flow to the Soviet Union or any other
> material flow to the Soviet Union ? That is not in
> Soviet national interest. What did helping Viet Nam
> do to help the SU materially ? Very little.
>
> (((((((((
>
>
>
> Stalin himself crushed the
> Spanish revolutioon. He sold Greece and tried to
> sell Yugo to the West at
> Yalta. He established an imperial buffer zone in
> East Europe that was
> maintained by force in Berlin, Hungary, Czecho, and
> Poland. I could go
> on.Soviet foreign policy is only internationalist
> for someline like you,
> Charles, who identifies the interests of the world
> working class with those
> of the Soviet state.
>
> ))))))))))))
>
> CB: No, the Soviet foreign policy was in fact
> internationalist.
>
> (((((((((
>
>
> The USSR was not a _capitalist_ exploiter, but it
> wasa
> traditional great power in its foreign relations,
> looking to the narrow
> national interests of the state, not to the
> interests of a wider group,
> such as the working class. --jks
>
>
> >
> > > [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >After the mid 20's, you can
> >get a lot further in predicting Soviet foreign
> policy using a straight line
> >national interest calculation than an ideological
> one.
> >
> >((((((((((
> >
> >CB: How was almost going to nuclear war with the
> U.S. over Cuba in the
> >Soviet narrow national interest ? How was one way
> economic support to Cuba
> >and other countries in Soviet national interest ?
> >
> >The SU had internationalist foreign policy
> >
> >
> >
> >Sure, the USSR supported some national liberation
> movements--that is one of
> >the few half-way decent things it did. But it never
> did that when it didn't
> >seem that this would not further great power goals.
> >
> >(((((((((((
> >
> >CB: The SU didn't act like a capitalist great
> power. It didn't have
> >colonies , i.e. economically exploitative relations
> with the other
> >socialist and socialist path nations
> >
> >
>
>
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