Originally posted by ProfEmeritus
You know very well that your analogy does NOT apply. Japan and Germany did NOT enslave any countries after the war!
But they did leave plenty of countries in ruin which countries like the USSR then proceeded to rebuild so as to enable their industrialization and
education drives... If one looks at how much of the world that fell under western control looks you get a very good idea of why things got better for
the survivors ( after Stalin killed those who resisted change or offered resistance of any kind) in much of Eastern Europe while they remained the
same or got worse in the 'developing world. If you look at countries like Indian and Pakistan, Indonesia ( include a few dozen with US installed
dictators if you like) their death tolls from disease and malnutrition alone are ten times higher than any amount Stalin has ever been accused of
killing. Living in the USSR were not the best thing that could happen to you but it's far, far from the worse.
As for revenge, I am not talking about revenge. I am talking about a country that enslaved hundreds of millions of people for 45 years, and is
trying to do it AGAIN.
If taking away, or wanting to take away, people's economic or human rights is slavery then we live on a slave planet since so very few are lucky
enough not to experiencing slavery of one form or another.
Russia has no right to invade Georgia. Putin is trying to re-establish the old Soviet Union, and you know it. Your avatar seems to agree with
that attempt.
Russia has more right to invade ( presuming that this is about international law and not just the ability to do so ) Georgia than Georgia did for
shelling civilians in SO. When the US withdraws from it's illegal occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan ( and a few other nations from illegal
occupations of their own) the 'west' might gain credibility enough to keep the Russians to international agreements. As for Putin trying to
establish the old Soviet Union i'm confident that they will use the same puppet ruler systems and economic terrorism to get their way without
creating 'unions' such as the one NATO ( and Germany; a western country) inspired.
Originally posted by ProfEmeritus
Here you go :
From the same source:
Soon after the Cuban Revolution, America became concerned about the political positions of Fidel Castro's government, and therefore Cuba was a
major focus of the new Kennedy administration when it assumed power in January 1961.[2] In Havana, there was fear of military intervention by the
United States in Cuba.[3] In April 1961, the threat of invasion became real when a force of CIA-trained Cuban exiles opposed to Castro landed at the
Bay of Pigs. The invasion was quickly terminated by Cuba's military forces. Castro was convinced the United States would invade Cuba.[4] Shortly
after routing the Bay of Pigs Invasion, he declared Cuba a socialist republic, established formal ties with the Soviet Union, and began to modernize
Cuba's military.
The United States also considered direct military attack. Air Force Gen. Curtis Lemay presented to Kennedy a pre-invasion bombing plan in September,
while spy flights and minor military harassment from the United States Guantanamo Naval Base were the subject of continual Cuban diplomatic complaints
to the U.S. government.
By September 1962, Cuban observers fearing an imminent invasion would have seen increasing signs of American preparations for a possible
confrontation, including a joint Congressional resolution authorizing the use of military force in Cuba if American interests were threatened[7], and
the announcement of an American military exercise in the Caribbean planned for the following month (Operation Ortsac).Unanimously, the Joint
Chiefs of Staff agreed that a full-scale attack and invasion was the only solution. They agreed that the Soviets would not act to stop the U.S. from
conquering Cuba; Kennedy was skeptical, saying:
Since the description you provided only suggests that it 'appears' as if Castro asked for that i would still like to see a primary source which were
not given by wikipedia. Firing on aircraft in Cuban skies is a defensive action so i am not sure how that can serve as proof of anything beside
legitimate self defense.
Originally posted by ProfEmeritus
Now they know how West Berlin felt for 45 years.
Well the USSR occupied all of Berlin and could have probably kept if if they liked to do so. It was the terrorist actions of the CIA/others that
primarily led to the USSR's blockade of West Berlin so once again something that could have been prevented by not taking such aggressive terrorist
actions.
Maybe a dose of their own medicine is what they need to wake up. For 45 years, they "encircled Eastern Europe, so they are the last that
should open their mouths.
It was always the USSR that were encircled by the west ( Pakistan, Iran, China - up to the mid 70's- Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey and NATO
itself) and to suggest that the USSR taking Eastern European countries from the Nazi's by force to be somehow less 'legitimate' has always struck
me as biased and ignorant. Capitalism ruled the world and the USSR did not gain the power to do much anything about that until the late 1970's.
Originally posted by ProfEmeritus
I'm curious, seriously. Can you name ONE COUNTRY that "properly" executed the concept of your communism? If not, then maybe it isn't executable.
Not that i would want to see the mostly fascist implementation of 'communism' spread or succeed but how did any attempt stand much of a chance when
the world were dominated by the armed power of corporate capitalism? Would the communist in China ever have achieved power if not for the invasion of
the Japanese had not been sponsored by the western interests just like Lenin and his gang when they co-opted and destroyed the social democratic
'soviets' and stole power in Russia? What would the 'communist' in China have managed if Japan did not destroy such massive tracts of the
nominally more industrialized Eastern China and where would Russia have been today if not for the devastation caused by the German Invasion? Look what
each managed despite the massive devastation caused by the last world war?
Stellar