The USA has a history of replacing popular democratically elected government with puppet government through various overt and covert approaches. Long ago, it even supported capitalist dictatorships against socialist democracy.
War crimes committed during invasion of Iraq are enough to disqualify US from being a global moral authority.
Frankly speaking, no one is above other in terms of moral authority and every country is sovereign.
How can Americans trust their government after reading the history behind foreign intervention in the interest of Democracy.
...it makes it look as if Hitler was just a greedy sado-racist. His invasion was a form of colonialism... — jamalrob
On the other hand, I could interpret you as saying that the parallel case is true, namely that Putin is both corrupt--the top silovarch who has used his power to become mega-rich--and dedicated to the security, stability, and prosperity of his country, as he sees it. — jamalrob
Unless you've read back over the past couple of pages — jamalrob
it's actually implied in what I wrote — jamalrob
Or to put it a different way - the US took the lead in winning the Cold War. Something which the whole world should be thankful for. If you have any complaints about how the US acted during the Cold War you should take it up with Mr Marx. — Paul Edwards
If remember correctly, Hitler responded to a tiny force of British bombers bombing Berlin by starting massive bombings of London. The idea that nations can lose their will to fight and can be demoralized by bombing their cities was the theory of Douhet. The opposite appears to be the reality with conventional bombing. Yet politicians are sensitive to these kind of issues and many times the response if more about politics than military necessity.You're right. I think the reason I misremembered is because Hitler was still careful not bomb civilian targets in the UK at first, hoping for an alliance, and Churchill being the first to carpet bomb indiscriminately in Germany. — Benkei
The idea that nations can lose their will to fight and can be demoralized by bombing their cities was the theory of Douhet. The opposite appears to be the reality with conventional bombing. Yet politicians are sensitive to these kind of issues and many times the response if more about politics than military necessity. — ssu
Yes. Many Russians repeat Putin's half-truth that he reasserted state control over the oligarchs and took back the country's assets, but of course, the relationship is not so simple. As you suggest, it's more like the Tsar with the boyars in medieval times: the oligarchs are still around. — jamalrob
Is Russia pretty liberated from their horrendous 20th Century experience, or are they still scarred? — frank
Yes, in fact it's a nicely concise way of saying what Marchesk and I subsequently said, about the messy and disastrous realities of intervention. — jamalrob
But the most immediately painful scars are from the 1990s. Nobody wants to go back to that, and that's partly why Putin has been popular. Pro- and anti-Putin often agree that he did what had to be done in his first years in power. Anti-Putin people differ now in thinking, come on, that's enough, time to go. — jamalrob
Well, have to say that some progress has happened. — ssu
Some of that fear of the "chaotic 90s," as well as the nostalgia for the good old days of the Soviet rule has been helped along by state propaganda. So is the idea of Putin riding in to save the day in 1999. A lot of the economic recovery during 2000s can be quite simply accounted by the booming oil prices and the accompanying rise in Russia's oil and gas production. — SophistiCat
But he's also a savvy leader, no denying that. He could very well be doing what he believes is in the best interest of Russia as a state. But does that preclude someone from being a criminal? — BitconnectCarlos
How much experience to they have with democracy? Are local decisions made democratically? Are judges elected? — frank
You know what is a real genuine reason why the Soviet Empire collapsed?A lot of the economic recovery during 2000s can be quite simply accounted by the booming oil prices and the accompanying rise in Russia's oil and gas production. — SophistiCat
But to the question of whether the totalitarian regime during the USSR years was good or evil (should we be left with that limited dichotomy), I'd say evil, standing in opposition to the values many of us hold so dear. — Hanover
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