If my liver holds out, I'll be around forever ;-)
Posted on 01/19/2003 5:09:33 PM PST by TheMilkMan
Confusion and euphoria about changes in the Soviet Union have given birth to many misconceptions and fallacies about Gorbachev and 'perestroika'. Even if bankrupt Western methods of analysis cannot be held responsible for all these fallacies, they still fail to provide serious correctives to them.
THE FIRST FALLACY: The origin of 'perestroika'
This is the belief that 'perestroika' was a consequence of President Regan's military pressure on the USSR and the potency of the American capitalist example. Believers in this fallacy, who insist that the West 'won the Cold War', do not suspect that 'perestroika' and its timing are the product of long-range strategy, planning and long-term preparation. [In Sun Tzu's terms, they have become arrogant].
THE SECOND FALLACY: The domestic character of perestroika
This is the belief that 'perestroika' is a purely domestic attempt to correct repressive practices, to revitalize the flagging Soviet economy and to adapt the Soviet Union to the necessities and norms of the modern world. Believer do not suspect the Soviet intent to expand 'perestroika' beyond the borders of the Communist world and to achieve the world victory of Communism through 'restructuring'.
THE THIRD FALLACY: Western-style democracy in the Soviet Union
Believers think that Gorbachev is trying to introduce Western-style democracy. They do not realize that he is extending 'Communist democracy' - that is to say, a new more mature phase of socialism in which only the appearance of Western-style democracy is created and maintained.
THE FOURTH FALLACY: The decline of ideology
Believers think ideology is dying or already dead and that Gorbachev has abandoned the class struggle and taken the 'capitalist road'. They do not realize that perestroika is an expression of ideological strategy and a practical means of reviving ideology. It is not the abandonment of class struggle but a finesse to secure the defeat of capitalist democracies by the use of capitalist weapons.
The class struggle will yet have its bloody feasts.
The Western elite believe they are helping the cause of democracy. In fact they are financing their own demise and digging their own graves. The tragedy is that they will probably not see it until it is too late.
THE FIFTH FALLACY: The ideological victory of capitalism
Believers think that the West has won the war of ideologies. The irony is that, through 'perestroika', the Soviets have captured the strategic and political initiative on the global stage and have begun to carry out their long-nurtured designs against the West which threaten its survival.
THE SIXTH FALLACY: That the Cold War is over
Believes think that the Soviet Union is no longer dangerous and that the Cold War is over (21). They take the deadly flirtation for the romantic marriage. The West perceives the Cold War to be over, and Communism to be dead; but from the Soviet side the Cold War will accelerate and become more deadly, especially for the political right which is being targeted as never before with the intention that it should suffer total obliteration.
THE SEVENTH FALLACY: 'Perestroika' is a blessing for the West
Believers think that perestroika serves Western interests and that Gorbachev should be helped. In the United States, even a learned man like Jeremy J. Stone, President of the Federation of American Scientists, has fallen for this fallacy. In a recent article in The New York Times entitled 'Let's Do All We Can for Gorbachev', he called on Americans to help the Soviets because 'Mr Gorbachev is, from our viewpoint, the best General Secretary we could dream of seeing'.
Believers in Western Europe go even further, advocating a new Marshall Plan to restore the economies of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. It was one thing to restore war-ravaged economies of Western Europe, West Germany and Japan, to shield them from Stalin's armies and to nurture their democratic systems. It is quite another to provide massive economic aid to the ideological enemies and gravediggers of Western democracies at the very time when they are launching and consolidating their strategic, political offensive against the West.
THE EIGHT FALLACY: Fear of 'perestroika's' failure and the fall of Gorbachev
Those who lionize Gorbachev express exaggerated concern for his survival and the success of 'perestroika', which they see as the best hope for the West. They fear that Gorbachev's departure would lead to a crackdown on 'reformers', rebellion and possible anarchy in the Soviet Union. They would do better to focus on solving their own problems and preserving their societies from Gorbachev's 'restructuring'.
THE NINTH FALLACY: A declining need for American military-political alliances
Believers think that the Soviet Union is becoming more peaceful, the Gorbachev can be trusted and the America's political and military alliances are superfluous. They need to be awakened to the dangers of the Soviet strategy of 'perestroika' which demand as never before the maintenance and strengthening of these alliances.
Offense, but are you even aware of reality? At all?
I think your cavalier dismissal of my attempt to educate you re: the native american/Egyptian threat suggests you need to re-examine your realist credentials.
If my liver holds out, I'll be around forever ;-)
Happy Trails...
America's Fifth Column ... watch Steve Emerson/PBS documentary JIHAD! In America
New Link: Download 8 Mb zip file here (60 minute video)
It's not convincing to try to debunk something by adding your own superstitions to it.
You don't understand, it never happened.
I prefer cheap shoes and full power than good shoes, no guns and no nukes, if I were a Russian today....
I am stunned by your philosophy of cheap shoes. Very very bright.
Before and after Perestroyka. Welfare and power struggle rules! (ever heard of 911? Chechnya? Afghanistan? China-Russia multipolarity obsessions? Bin Laden, Saddam, Putin and Jiang having the same thesis against American intervention? 10,000+ nukes in Russia? Nuke proliferation in Iran, Syria, North Korea, Pakistan, India?)
Sheesh, I must be paranoiac or what?
?????
Makes about as much sense as the rest of stuff people who believe this sort of thing post. And neither you nor BM have addressed the much greater issue of Native American Maskirova. Just out of curiosity- is this a lyndon larouche thing? It has that same sort of ring.
What about you? Have you? No, you just blatter around a name and tell people to go look there or here. What is the gosh damn issue with Maskirova, will you tell us????????? Do they have atomic bombs, suicide bombers, power struggle and class struggle obessions? What does this have to do with the Golytsin antithesis? that is, aside from agreeing the the common thesis without thinking, that the Soviets have disintegrated... as if HIV did not cause AIDS.....
The Western individual aim of self-realization demands that the "Know thyself" principle be followed. Is that happening in Russia? Is this next generation embracing this principle at the foundation of Western capitalism?
Hardly so. We have no Nuremberg style trials. We have no disarmament movement and caution movements in Russia like we have in the West. We only have Russians mesmerized by their leaders and wishing for Russia to build an empire. In Greek culture the leader follows the character of the people and his own personal original character. In Napoleonic culture the people behave like the leader. French people are not French, they are little Napoleons. In Russia, the Russians are little Putins.
I hate to burst you guys' bubble, but that is the way it is, the barabarians are still in power and have no intention of knowing themselves except to annoint themselves with the Orthodox church and other past Soviet anthems, organs, heros and the red star in their army. Add to that tolerance of documented human rights violations in Chechnya that we would not even dare do ourselves, a complete black out on the Moscow theater intervention, and the fast organization of Neo-Nazies accross the nation, and Russia is only at a return of pre-1917 revolutionary days, with post-communists still firmly in power and who will not give it up.
Power and class struggle is the motto for communists and powers in Russia are maintaining it that way while annointing themselves and playing around with "past" hymns.
"What about you? Have you?"
I assume you're are referring to my statement that neither you nor BM have addressed the issue of Native Americans pretending to be defeated. Since I brought this up in the first place in post 51 to BM, I would say yes, I have addressed it. Here's a clue- the Indians are defeated- my suggestion that they are not is a joke, an example of an absurd conspiracy theory...much like this thread.
"you just blatter around a name and tell people to go look there or here."
I don't speak idiot, so I'm not sure I can translate this, but I think the name you're referring to is lyndon larouche, and perhaps "look here and there" refers to my inviting BM to check out "21st Century Technology", a magazine published under larouche's direction.
Lyndon Larouche is a former socailist/nutball, who is now...just a nutball. He was fond of conpsiracy theories like "Queen Elizabeth started the Beatles to undermine American and get us hooked up dope, the production and sale of which she controls.
What is the gosh damn issue with Maskirova, will you tell us?????????
Okay, my fault. The word is actually spelled "Maskirovka"- I left out a "k".
From a thirty second Google search:
"Maskirovka is actually a very broad concept that encompasses many English terms. These include: camouflage, concealment, deception, imitation, disinformation, secrecy, security, feints, diversions, and simulation. While terms overlap to a great extent, a complication is that the Russian term is greater than the sum of these English terms. Thus, those in the West should attempt to grasp the entire concept rather than its components. This concept, because of the Soviet "mind-set," permeates the entire nation. It is practiced throughout Soviet society and is not just a military term. It is a part of published Soviet data and figures as they relate to the economy, agricultural, or industrial production."
In other words, operations similar to the ones you and BM and others suggest has been going on ever since Perestroika. The idea is that the Soviets practiced deception as a matter of course- maps, production figures, weather data, all were falsified in order to mislead the enemy. Although the article at the beginning of the thread doesn't used the term, what the author is suggesting is that the collapse of the CCCP is actually a Maskirovka (masquerade) operation.
Hope that helped.
Sorry for the misunderstanding on this point. It is a frightening concept of mad people, and it is strange indeed why this concept is not mentioned by the defector himself. Thanks for your input.
This thread is about debunking the conspiracy theories about the West. It is in part to examplify that such conspiracy theory might emanate from the East and reds, since this is the purpose of Soviet deception itself. So your deploring the existance of socialists ravening in conspiracies of the Queen go along with this thread on Perestroika deception that aimed to create the sensation of a western conspiracy and the non-existence of the communist conspiracy for world dictatorship.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.