Mikhail Gorbachev, last Soviet leader, dies at age 91
- Thread starter The_Krakenite
- Start date
Putin has a lot to worry about these days with opposition from both the anti-war, anti-authoritarian currents going around but moreso from the hardliners who are disappointed in him for not being more draconian.
Certainly, the memories of how Gorbachev fared must weigh on his mind. Gorby -in the minds of the hardliners- was not doing enough to hold the soviet union together and it was beginning to unravel. Then one day Gorby took a vacation trip to the Black Sea and there was a two or three day coup where he was detained by kgb agents. Ultimately he was let go and returned to power and then more silently sidelined, and Yeltzen took over.
Just sayin, that little scenario with Gorbachev must give Putin a lot to think about. Keeping the hardliners happy is not all that easy, and yet every time he does aggressive things to please them, Russia ends out with a bigger mess to deal with.
Gorby won a Nobel Peace Prize though. Not sure Vlad will.
Certainly, the memories of how Gorbachev fared must weigh on his mind. Gorby -in the minds of the hardliners- was not doing enough to hold the soviet union together and it was beginning to unravel. Then one day Gorby took a vacation trip to the Black Sea and there was a two or three day coup where he was detained by kgb agents. Ultimately he was let go and returned to power and then more silently sidelined, and Yeltzen took over.
Just sayin, that little scenario with Gorbachev must give Putin a lot to think about. Keeping the hardliners happy is not all that easy, and yet every time he does aggressive things to please them, Russia ends out with a bigger mess to deal with.
Gorby won a Nobel Peace Prize though. Not sure Vlad will.
wow ...
does putin actually realize this?
but he still wants russia to be a superpower?
how will this end?
what do you expect after putin?
With health measures due to Covid, all of the foreign leaders will just attend the funeral virtually. To me, I feel it would be better if all of the foreign dignitaries attend in person. Will give them a chance to talk to Putin to resolve this war. This war is only hurting Russia itself and its own people and they don't deserve that.
And this is not just typical of Russia. This is the same with every single autocratic dictatorial regime in the world. If you look at the ethnic origin of all the immigrants in America, the majority are from countries with dictatorships. Very few are from western democratic countries unless they came here when that country was ruled by dictatorship. America itself was founded by a group of people who weren't happy with the British monarchy which had more absolute power back then and the massive aristocratic system that supports it. When you have power concentrated in the hands of the few and don't value and even suppress the people who have different ideas from you while ignoring their talent and abilities, this is what happens.
It's like a family headed by a headstrong Father who rules the family with an iron fist. The children who are smart and strong and have their own ideas of how the family should be run would eventually leave when they are not appreciated by the Father and only the meek, obedient and less ambitious children would stay behind, getting free food and lodging from the family and have everything taken care of and then taking care of the Father when he gets old just like the people in Russia and China and all the dictatorship countries taking care of the old countries when they are aging. But where do these smart and strong children go when they leave the home if they are still underage? They go to their friend's home where the parents of this friend have always been more sympathetic and understanding of the child or they go to this relative, this aunt or the grandparents who have always been able to see the rebellious child for who he/she is and they take that rebellious child in just like the immigrant countries take in all the immigrants. This is why and how immigrant countries thrive because they get the best and the brightest, or more of them I should say.
Those hardliners should just shove it! If they don't like it, they are more than welcome to take up the rein themselves and to see how well they can run the country. You think Putin would care if there was a coup against him? He would be more than happy to take a vacation after working all these years to keep everything together and running.
I noticed, a lot of advocates of socialism like to defend communism by saying that had Stalin not siezed control and let power get to his head, that communism would have been a utopia and the rest of the world would have quickly adapted.
The falsification here is that only Stalin murdered millions of his own people and sent many others into prison camps. I think the following toon sums up what Lenin did before-hand.
The falsification here is that only Stalin murdered millions of his own people and sent many others into prison camps. I think the following toon sums up what Lenin did before-hand.
Yes, I agree. For a democracy to exist at any level requires some measure of tolerance (something I think is disappearing here in the US), as I believe you suggest by individualism. They have a constitution, that guarantees all sorts of freedoms... but the law seems to derive from the political elite ...
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Good analogy to the family. To take it a step further, the strong father head also provides safety from the uncertainties of the outside world.
People who support dictatorships fear chaos. For them, the imposition of strict rules and a clear direction is preferable to the diversity of ideas provided by democratic principles of consensus building and the vagaries of electoral direction, especially if the direction goes against their choice.
For democracy to work there needs to be a simple fundamental, the desire to work together to build a better tomorrow. For a dictatorship to work you need a charismatic leader with clear and simple objectives supported by a group dedicated to that leader.
Mind you, a dictatorship doesn't have to be brutal, just the unwillingness to negotiate an alternative direction. Singapore is an example of a benevolent dictatorship that most of the population supports.
I don't think people support communism in the US, that's only what Republicans are pushing.