Originally posted by richardfinegold
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Ukraine
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Originally posted by RichardB View PostIndeed so. Although perhaps it should be noted that these values are being seriously eroded elsewhere as well, including rather obviously in the UK. Which of course is not to put Downing Street and the White House on the same level as the Kremlin; but one thing that could be learned from the current situation (and the reason why so many of us stress the expansionist and hypocritical approach of NATO) is that "we" would be in a much better position not just within our own society but in a more global context if "we" actually put our stated commitment to "democracy, freedom of the press and the rule of law" more clearly into practice. If there were such a moral example in the world it would be much more difficult for people like Putin to rise to power. The problem is that capitalism (both Western market capitalism and the state capitalism of countries like Russia and China) embodies fundamentally anti-democratic features.
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Originally posted by Belgrove View PostI’ve just reread the chapter on Russia in Tim Marshall’s ‘Prisoners of Geography: Ten maps that tell you everything you need to know about global politics’. In 28 lucid pages, it gives a précis of Russia’s geopolitical outlook on the world from the foundation of Kievan Rus in the 9th Century to 2016 when the book was published. Seeing Russia’s resources, scale and security through the perspective of its geography shows the constants in its actions through the centuries. He concludes: ‘It does not matter if the ideology of those in control is tsarist, Communist or crony capitalism - the ports still freeze, and the North European Plain is still flat. Strip out the lines of nation states, and the map Ivan the Terrible confronted is the same one Vladimir Putin is faced with to this day.’ Worth a read.
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Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View PostThe carving up of Poland and swallowing of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania was initiated by the Nazi army, of course, then driven back by the Red Army and handed to the USSR in the Yalta agreement.
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Originally posted by Gabriel Jackson View PostThis is not correct. The carving up of Poland occurred as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact of 1939. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940. They were under Nazi occupation from 1941-1944 when the Soviet Union re-occupied.
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Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View PostIf you re-read you will see that my reference to soft gradual reformism was in respect of capitalist countries: as a Triotskyist, a lapsed one, true, but one who still holds to Trotsky's take on Stalinism, I never had ideals about the Soviet Union. If the USSR was the only available model of socialism, I would have remained pro-capitalism.
Was ist schön? Was ist Scheiße?
Schön, dass es den Sozialismus gibt. Scheiße, dass es den hier gibt.
(What's nice? What's shit?
Nice that socialism exists. Shit that it exists here.)
What do you call the Gewandhaus after a tour to the West? A string quartet.
Etc etc
I met a lot of of East German musicians in the early 70s, including some quite eminent ones. I remember being very struck by a conversation with someone fairly high up in the Gewandhaus admin, still around and one of Germany's foremost new music gurus. He pointed out that, having been born 1933, he had never lived in a democracy.
It surprises me that given the history of mendacity from above and sledgehammer propaganda, so many Russians currently appear to actually believe the absurd official line being trotted out.
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Originally posted by gurnemanz View PostI once had a vague idea that socialism might be the answer but was speedily disillusioned. Capitalism tempered by state intervention a la Ralf Dahrendorf (my hero) seemed a decent compromise to me. My wife grew up in East Germany (Die Deutsche Demokratische [!] Republik) and I got to know the country and the people very well before they eventually allowed us to marry and her to leave and become British. New daily jokes, spread by word of mouth with the frisson of some personal risk, made life there more jolly. Eg
Was ist schön? Was ist Scheiße?
Schön, dass es den Sozialismus gibt. Scheiße, dass es den hier gibt.
(What's nice? What's shit?
Nice that socialism exists. Shit that it exists here.)
What do you call the Gewandhaus after a tour to the West? A string quartet.
Etc etc
I met a lot of of East German musicians in the early 70s, including some quite eminent ones. I remember being very struck by a conversation with someone fairly high up in the Gewandhaus admin, still around and one of Germany's foremost new music gurus. He pointed out that, having been born 1933, he had never lived in a democracy.
It surprises me that given the history of mendacity from above and sledgehammer propaganda, so many Russians currently appear to actually believe the absurd official line being trotted out.
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Originally posted by gurnemanz View PostI once had a vague idea that socialism might be the answer but was speedily disillusioned. Capitalism tempered by state intervention a la Ralf Dahrendorf (my hero) seemed a decent compromise to me.
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Originally posted by eighthobstruction View Post....little nugget of info I just heard on Deutsch Welle.... April 1st is the day that Russian constription begins and ends for 150k soldiers and 150k new recruits....could just be another small thing that might affect the situation....
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Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View PostI would imagine they were told they were going on extra-mural studies.
It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.
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Originally posted by french frank View PostI don't believe anything I'm told by anyone, of course.
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