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Strategies & Market Trends : Asia Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jay Scott who wrote (7257)	10/22/1998 2:04:00 AM
From: Dayuhan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9980

Jay, it was the leadership here at the time that hastened the decline and brought it to a much quicker conclusion. Given what's happened since, this may someday be viewed by historians as a blunder of considerable proportions. A more controlled transition, similar to that which is now being managed by the Chinese, might have had much better long-term results. As Russia's slide moves closer to bringing it back to totalitarianism (whether of right or left is immaterial), we might want to question the "leadership" of those who demanded that nation's immediate emasculation. those former threats, who were actively sowing strife and revolution throughout the world. I don't believe that strife or revolution have ever been effectively sown in soil that does not exhibit the particular characteristics which foster their growth. Revolution occurs when forces of reaction block all peaceful means to progressive reform. The US and its allies, by supporting corrupt right wing dictatorships in a short-sighted and ineffectual effort to derail the left, actually did as much to foster the growth of radicalism as any subversive moves by the evil empire, IMO. Or has everyone forgotten about those times already? Absolutely not. I remember them very well, those days when (in our small case) Ferdinand Marcos was "our boy", and anyone with the temerity to oppose him was by definition a commie, to be imprisoned or worse. If those are the kinds of "tough policies of engagement" you refer to, I think we can live without them. What will be the next great confrontation that forces us to set aside our differences and deal with a common threat, and is this the leadership that we are confident can handle it on our behalf? I'm not that impressed with current leadership, but the last thing we need is a return to Reagan's Lone Ranger style. As you say, these are common threats, and they can only be dealt with by a world community, not by us going it alone. Steve

To: Jay Scott who wrote (7257)	10/22/1998 9:04:00 AM
From: Sam	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 9980

Jay, Steven, Seppo, Thanks for your thoughts about the ending of the Cold War. It will come as no surprise that I agree with Seppo and Steven. Actually there were a several people in the US writing about the dry rot in the USSR before Reagan came to power. One was Dan Moynihan in the late 70s. They were not listened to, they were drowned out by the "anti-commie" attitudes of the majority in the US; indeed, it was the self-interested rhetoric of the Soviet government itself as well the entrenched establishment in the US that was heeded for a number of reasons that I won't go into here. I knew a number of individuals who traveled to the Soviet Union to study in the 70s, and they all knew. In private conversations with Soviet citizens, even most of the the Soviet citizens knew that their government was fundamentally corrupt and bankrupt, though they had no idea what to replace it with, or how to do so. The famous joke "Capitalism is the exploitation of man by man; socialism is the opposite" was widely shared as bottles of vodka were passed about. I urge you to read Stockman's book. It expresses a fascinating view of the inside of the Reagan Administration. I don't really want to get into a pro and contra Reagan/Clinton discussion here (or anywhere else on SI, for that matter), but it bears some serious research and reflection. Sincerely, Sam