BALTIMORE, Maryland March 4, 2014 - For years and years, during the Cold War, the West tried to keep a hold of the Russian Tiger, fearing that if it escaped, the consequences would be devastating and irreversible. There were those who thought the West's actions were overdone, unwise, and, indeed, reactionary. Always at the fulcrum of this debate in the West was the desire of some to confuse Russia and its policies with the utopian goal of what was called "small 'c' communism". Some in the west longed for what they imagined as a utopian society of absolute equal wealth for everyone, a society sffwhere everyone shared everything, and every member of society was equal in the possessions they held. They believed that a real "communist" system would do away forever with poverty, and they tried to convince others that the Russian system was a great step in that direction, that its failures were caused by Western pressures, and if the West would only back off, utopia would bloom.
The far left that was melded into Western Governments constantly served as apologists for Russia. Their desire to see a land where everyone was economically equal and no one was "poor," caused these apologists to attempt to put the brakes on Western policies that tried to derail everything Russian.
When the Soviet Union invaded Hungary in the 1950's and Czechoslovakia in the 1960's, the West screamed loud, talk with bluster and did what it could to punish the Soviets economically. To combat Soviet expansionism, the West invested heavily in their military, including anti-ballistic missles, nuclear weapons, strong navies and air forces and ground forces able to repel attacks they hoped would never come. The far left apologized for these invasions and pointed to what they believed were breakthroughs in society sparked by Communism. But the Communism practiced in Russia and the countries of the Iron Curtain was nothing like the utopian land imagined by the Far Left. The real life system in these Iron Curtain countries was built around strong secret police systems that ferreted out anyone not totally in line with 'the state.' and its objectives. The real life Communist world was one of empty store shelves, constant shortages of the staples of everyday life, mandatory conscription of all male society members for military service, horrible health care and suppresion of the press (there was no free press in Communist Lands. Anyone who even published a tract challenging the system was crushed by the state). The Communist Governments sought desperately to totally control every aspect of life and every description of that life that was published anywhere. Every description of life behind the Iron Curtain was published by the State and painted a picture of a utopian existence. Because western writers gained access to the Iron Curtain, the truth got out. The quality of life was miserable. The only exceptions were the insiders in the system, who, through corruption, obtained more material wealth than everyone else. It was a constant source of embarassment to the Iron Curtain Governments when people defected at every turn. The Berlin Wall, which separated Communist East Berlin and West Berlin became a symbol of the hard life behind the wall. Guards patrolled the wall and shot everyone who tried to cross over to the West. And still the efforts continued. There were other places where dissidents made their move to the West. And authors behind the wall escaped and wrote in painful detail of the abuses that were part of everyday life. In fact, victory in the Cold War would come when the Communists finally succembed to the West's ability to out-spend, out-build and, really, out-think the Communists in the area of new weapons. When Ronald Reagan elected to spend and build the so-called 'Star Wars' defense initiative, the Communists literally gave up. Even if they could build some sort of system themselves, they couldn't fund it. The Communist economic system was broke. And no amount of spin could disguise it. That's when Communist Leaders in Russia attempted market reforms. The first time the Russian people even smelled a free market system, they would never go back to Communism. The total collapse of the Iron Curtain and Russia itself came so fast it was shocking.
Fast forward now to 2014. A member of one of he Soviet Union's most fearsome arms, the Soviet Secret Police, known as the KGB, has come to power in Russia and is determined to recapture the "glory" of the Soviet Union. We don't have to guess at these motives because Vladimir Putin himself has said that the collapse of Soviet society is one of the great tragedies of the post-War era. The Soviet Union that Putin remembers is the one that exerted hegemony over a large portion of the Earth's surface, no matter the cost to the millions who had to live under the system. Putin was one of the privileged under the Communist System. His willingness to swallow the Communist line, to take orders and carry out orders, no matter the cost to those he came into contact with, paid off handsomely. One didn't advance in a secret police world unless you were able to show absolute loyalty to your superiors. If you did show it and if you followed those orders you were rewarded. Putin benefited from the system. He was rewarded. He has always been rewarded.
Now the question is whether Putin is a last gasp of the old order or a rebirth of it. Things will no doubt turn on whether the people living in Russia remember enough about their life under it to resist its return. Life since the Iron Curtain fell hasn't been a bed or roses in many places, Russia chief among them. The transformation from the old order to a market economy has been a rough road. One thing that has kept countries like Russia from a smooth transition is the tremendous amount of crime and corruption. Deprived for decades of material wealth, the citizens of the old Communist order have taken all manner of steps to gain their own wealth. Often times those methods have been short-cuts around the laws. Money disappears in Russia today faster than cigarrettes did under the Communist system. Crime is off the charts. Putin is preaching a song of old power. He tells the people of Russia that they deserve to rule the world "like we used to." Plus, he is in enough control to stay in power. Few in Russia doubt he is now President for Life. When the new Constitution forced him to resign the presidency, he found a puppet to take the seat for him, and after enough years out he returned. In fact, he never left. He crushes opposition like the KGB did in the old days. Just ask the members of the Rock Band turned Social Activists known as "Pussy Riot." Putin has had them arrested so many times it would make your head spin. Putin's problem with Pussy Riot is that they are protesting in truthful words and, being women, an old macho Communist like Putin thinks it would look bad if he put them away as long as he wants to. Their last arrest that i am aware of was at Sochi during the Olympics.
There is a web site called The Voice of Russia. It is like the old TASS press bureau which described the world from the eyes of the old Communists. Today, it says Putin has assured everyone that there will be no violence or military action in Crimea because everyone has acknowledged the validity and truth of his pronouncements. It also says that everything that happened in Kiev is due to the United States instigating anti-Russian riots, a coup, and other evils. There was an old joke before the Iron Curtain collapsed. It was about TASS and the lengths it would go to tell the Russian people how every event had to be spun to support the Communist government. TASS reported, one day, that there was a foot race between a Russian Track Star and an American. In reality, the American had won fairly easily, but TASS wouldn't dare report that. Instead it put out a story that said there had been a major international race involving many runners, including one from the USA and one from the Soviet Union. In the race the glorious Soviet runner, despite tremendous odds, managed to finish second, while the filthy American finished next to last.
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