| | | In regard to nuclear threat and “respect”, I spent a long time undersea against the 7 times greater numerical advantage the former Soviet submarines force possessed in the Cold War. They basically bankrupted their nation building massive fleets and nucs to threaten the world. All I can say is “mutual respect” was not how I would describe those encounters. Thank you for your service, sir. I’m sure you know about war and peace more than I do.
People like Ronald Reagan - and you and I - are absolutely right - USSR was evil. It was a dangerous, violent totalitarian monster. An aberration. Having been born after the war, I avoided the worst of it. As a small child, I remember the death of Stalin. After the 1956 Khrushchev’s speech about the massive crimes of Stalinism, things gradually turned for the better. As a young person, I was involved with the dissidents - and even “earned” a 3 hour “interview” with the KGB - in the Tall House (the joke was that it was so tall that you could see Siberia from the basement window). They could have dug a little deeper and destroyed me, but they didn’t. The times were changing. But, it was a good lesson about the power of totalitarian state.
I think the West underestimated the virtually bloodless revolution which was the demise of the USSR - and when most of its component republics becoming independent. With all respect to RR, it wasn’t brought about by the West - It happened because the population - including the armed forces - had their fill. People were too tired of the crazy regime and it’s empire of lies.
I think that to a large degree, the mistrust towards post - soviet Russia turned out to be a self fulfilling prophecy. Having suffered from Stalinism and it’s violence - and WWII - their sense of history is very sharp. When someone tries to screw them over, they recognize it fast. They directed so many resources towards defense not because of imperialistic intentions, but because they knew that a confrontation could be coming. They took the NATO expansion towards their borders most seriously. Right now, the fighting is being done by Ukraine's armed forces - and, tragically, it’s the Ukrainian people who are suffering - but the real conflict, which was very long in the making - is between Russia and the West.
I think the odds for an escalation are real. It’s a local war that isn’t truly local. Let’s hope that the saner minds prevail. |
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