Posted on 09/23/2016 4:41:10 PM PDT by ameribbean expat
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union should have transformed the bloc into a democratic entity rather than see it collapse, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.
“You know my attitude towards the collapse of the Soviet Union. There was no need to do it. Reforms could have been undertaken, including those of democratic nature,” the Russian president told the leaders of the parties which won seats in last week's general election.
“But I want to point out that the Communist Party was in charge of our former homeland, the USSR, not any other,” Putin added.
(Excerpt) Read more at rt.com ...
Great Russian leaders don’t scramble to manipulate things to stay in power for 16 years.
A normal Russia is not a threat to the world order.
We had a lot to fear from the Soviet Union. We face no such threat from Russia.
“Putin does not want to revive the USSR. The past remains in the past.”
Well, that probably depends on the kind of “want” you are talking about. Do I think he has it on his “to do” list of practical things he can achieve? No. Do I think if he found a genie in a bottle and was granted a wish would he ask for that? Certainly.
“No one in Russia or the post-Soviet space misses the Communist Party and no one in free elections looks forward to restoring its rule.”
I have to disagree here. Of course the few at the top who benefited from their positions with the party miss those benefits. Also, the ideologically committed communists of course miss effectively having half the planet under their dominion. It’s foolish to think otherwise.
Neither. I don’t support commies of either variety.
That evil empire, for those of you too young to remember, was the late, very much unlamented "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics". It was a murderous, totalitarian regime now consigned to the dustbin of history with its twin brother the Third Reich. Anyone who wants to revive it can go to hell. Anyone who mourns for it is either stupid or evil.
We will never see it again.
The fact the very few presided over the country’s dissolution is not an argument on their behalf.
Just the opposite. For all its flaws and shortcomings, Putin’s Russia is still a far freer country than the Soviet Union ever was.
As far as being an accidental historical outcome it might be, its still one that left the modern world a better place, indeed.
Ha! Not hardly. It was our cold war arsenal. We outspent them into bankruptcy. Ronald Reagan administered the final coup-de-grace.
China saw Russia in 1990 and decided while there would be economic liberalization, there would be no political liberalization. They witnessed the Soviet Empire destroy itself. Putin is simply saying that view was the correct one
The Soviet Union could have instead focused on slow economic change, with more property freedoms, while endeavoring to keep the Party in control and the country together
But if you could invite Putin OR Odunga over for dinner.. WHICH ONE?
As would Zoltán Tildy, Václav Havel, Lech Wałęsa, ... or any sensible person who is not a complete stooge of the NeoSoviet Empire®.
This is nothing new. Vlad has gone doey-eyed over recreating the Stalinist state on many occasions. FReepers commenting favorably on him are fifth columnists, traitors, and/or moronic dupes.
"We had a lot to fear from the Soviet Union. We face no such threat from Russia."
I'm not so sure. In hindsight, I think we may have jointly hyper-ventalated ourselves into some ridiculous standoffs and imaginary threats. In the end, they didn't want to fight any more than we did. That's not to say that Stalin wasn't an a**hole to his people, but unfortunately, that's not our business.
Prior to the communist takeover, the United States and Russia were great friends. Hell, Buffalo Bill Cody even escorted the Russian prince on a wild west excursion. I think our peoples have a lot more in common than we don't, and I say again, it's idiotic that we're enemies.
That is true.
What Putin misses is the Russian empire.
Which could indeed have survived, much better than the Soviet Union could have, as it was economically an extremely dynamic capitalism. It was in a state of economic takeoff, 1905-1914, and getting very rich.
WWI and the incredibly poor quality of imperial governance during the crisis doomed it to civil war and communism.
Correct. And vald is not stupid; that leaves the other choice.
Vlad.
The Soviets were attached to an ideology, effectively a religion, that made them by default enemies of everyone. That was a religious war.
The degree of hate vs everyone else everywhere in those years, held by the communist true believers in every nation and by the state apparatus of the communist states, is hard to understand here and now, but it existed and was a major factor.
“Great Russian leaders don’t scramble to manipulate things to stay in power for 16 years.”
Thats exactly what great Russian leaders do. Russia doesn’t have a history of nice leaders.
Arguably the party and the economic system was simply too corrupt to reform. The bosses would not have stood for liberalization - market reforms, private farming, small business, privatization, etc.
They were too panicked keeping state enterprises going.
China with much less industry and many more traditional peasants actually had much less in overhead of useless state enterprises. And they hadn’t gone quite as far in demoralizing the peasant. Less than 20 years of communist madness (the bad stuff in the countryside went on in the 50’s) vs 70 years in the Soviet Union.
The USSR destroyed itself.
Putin has made Russia into a world power that right now, may even eclipse our own. US generals have already conceded that Russia could defeat us in a conventional war. How or who Putin manipulated, secretly assassinated, or connived his way into that status isn't up for debate.
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