A historic date in history....

It was 25 years ago today the Hammer and Sickle flag of the USSR was lowered for the last time over the Kremlin in Moscow.  On that day the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was officially dissolved.  A political movement that began with a bang, literally, 70+ years earlier ended with just a whimper.

I just finished listening to a fascinating 6-part podcast series (Dan Carlin's Hardcore History / Blueprint for Armageddon) about The Great War, aka World War I, and how it changed the course of history from June 1914 to this very day.  As it pertains to Russia, the short version:

Unable to withstand the hardships and hunger of everyday life in war-weary Russia, by 1917 the people seized control and, after a series of revolutionary consolidations, the USSR was born.  By the 1980's the old Communist revolutionary zeal was long gone, and their system, which was slowly withering away, was as rotten as the Czar's was back in its dying days.

Russia to this day seems to have a never-ending inferiority complex.  They SO want to be a respected world power, but they simply have never quite been able to pull it off.  You can only rule by intimidation for so long, and by the late 1980's they were losing their iron grip.  Unable to afford an arms race with the West, with a population begging, then demanding a better life, and with nations on their periphery they had effectively controlled since the end of WWII now beginning to stand up to them, the hopelessly exhausted USSR finally lost power.  

Their last (nominal) Communist leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, after desperately trying a series of life-saving institutional reforms, finally accepted the inevitable and officially dissolved the Soviet Union on December 26, 1991.

Most reading this probably haven't given the passing of the USSR much thought since that historic day 25 years ago.  But at least one person, one Vladimir Putin, probably hasn't let a day pass since that event 25 years ago without thinking about it.  And he isn't smiling.

S

Throwing red meat to the lions

I watched an interesting TV show last night about the origins of the Nazi party in the immediate post WWI Germany.  (Yes, I'm a history nerd.)  Stay with me here....this is leading to a modern corollary.  

It told the familiar story of a few malcontents who met regularly in dark Munich beer halls, how Hitler met Goering and the original party core was formed, etc.

 

 Propaganda Minister Goebbels wrote the book on print and electronic thought manipulation.

But then it told of how things were moving in slow motion until they bought a small Munich newspaper, the Das Groobenshinerbocklageramberale (not sure about the spelling).  That was their original propaganda mouthpiece, and that's when their membership took off. 

They filled its pages with slanted news, sometimes factual, sometimes made up, to whip their fellow malcontents into a frenzy.  And they soon found radio had an even wider audience.

The Fox News of the 1930's?

That's not likely to ever happen again.  Today we're much more sophisticated.  Or are we?  Ever watch Fox News?  In a headlong race to the bottom, they're in first place by a wide margin.  They're not even subtle about it.  

They're a mouthpiece for the ultra-conservative right....the Tea Partyers, and those who are (or at least think they are) in a privileged position.  Some of their "contributors" are actually funny they're so absurd.  Fox News today is the ultra-right wing's Das Groobenshinerbocklageramberale.

In fairness, the ultra-left has their mouthpiece, too....MSNBC.  The only difference is, nobody watches it.  They once invented their own propaganda radio network (Air America) and it flopped miserably, too.  I guess they haven't read that book by Goebbels, Propaganda, Lies, and Just Plain Bullshit.  Fox News obviously has, and has even added ts own prologue.

The right says the New York Times is a liberal mouthpiece, but as long as you stay off their editorial pages, I don't see it.  It's pretty much just who, when, where, why, and how plain vanilla news.  I had a good chuckle recently when my pseudo-Tea Party brother showed me a "conservative" article in the Dallas Morning News, then started lambasting the "liberal NYT".  

Only then did I show him the by-line of the article's author at the end of the Dallas News story....it was a NYT journalist.  They just copy and pasted his story.  Haha!

Anyone who quotes from either Fox or MSNBC as their source loses huge credibility with me.  People today only want to hear that which reinforces what they already believe.

We need to learn to read more widely and think for ourselves again.  We've become very gullible people.  What's that old saying about history repeating itself?

S

What's next? Concentration camps?

To call the Tea Party Nazi's "Nazi's" is not an understatement.  Based on my recollection of the history of Germany in the 1930's, the tactics of today's Tea Party mimics how the National Socialists (how ironic, mentioning "Socialists" and the "Tea Party" in the same breath :) weaseled their way into power.  Intimidation, extortion, and blackmail worked for the Nazi's 80 years ago, and the Tea Party has revived their playbook today.  Will their opponents soon start mysteriously disappearing, too?

A small minority of ultra-radical Republicans (not to be confused with moderate, responsible, common-sense conservatives like myself) have even bullied Republican House Speaker John Boner into giving in to their threat to shut down the government in order to de-fund Obamacare.  Don't like Obamacare?  Fine, then fix it, but don't just take your toys and go home.  (Note:  Reverting to the status quo is NOT "fixing" healthcare.)

Boner told them shutting down the government was an irresponsible move, but they said he must get on board or they would crush him, too.  Boner caved.  He is no longer a leader but just their little puppet.

Pretty soon I fully expect to see these bastards combing their hair across their foreheads and growing little runny-nose moustaches.

S

And he has a bad haircut, too.

Yeah, yeah....I know.  We're supposed to be all hot and bothered by the little North Korean leader dude, but frankly, I'm just not feelin' it.  He just doesn't look the part.  He looks like he should be sitting in that teacup ride at Disney World going round and round.  Or maybe eating cotton candy while waiting for his turn on a ferris-wheel somewhere.

I mean, think of all the really bad guys over the last century....Hitler, Stalin, Mao Say Dung, Saddam What'shisname....they just reeked of evil, right?  This Korean guy, not so much.  I think he should be the poster child showing what happens when parents indulge their kids too much and don't discipline them during their formative years.

As for my personal feelings for Dear Leader III....I'll just follow my alter ego's lead:

Now back to our regularly scheduled Saturday morning cartoons.

S

Team America...World Police

If you watch the news at all you know there's a civil war raging in Syria right now.  The question that's constantly being asked is, "What should we do?"  Do we just watch?...Supply arms to the rebels?...Provide some sort of direct military support? 


I wonder if we as a nation suffer from some sort of guilt trip dating back to World War II?  Do we somehow feel responsible for not doing more in the 1930's to stop Hitler before he initiated the Holocaust?  Is that why we feel this urge to save all the oppressed of the world?  Speaking for myself as a Christian I would say, no, I don't want to turn a blind eye to the hungry or sick, but how much can we be expected to do, especially when so many right here at home are needing help, too?  


I don't see many other advanced western nations (Australia, Sweden, Canada..?)  chomping at the bit wanting to get involved there and we don't seem to be too critical of them.  Why is it all on us?  Would we be terrible people if we just said, "Sorry, but this is your fight."  


Be honest....do you really care what happens in Egypt, or Syria, or Yemen, etc?  As long as they don't export terrorists to come here and do us harm, I really don't.  And if they do, don't we have ways (clandestine) to deal with that short of the way we've handled things in Afghanistan?  I just think we need to get our own house in order before we start telling others how to run theirs. 


S