Bala Perdida
21st February 2014, 09:27
I saw a Truthloader (http://www.youtube.com/user/truthloader) video on the Ukrainian protests earlier today, which described the situation as a "cold war-like" political conflict. This made me think about the similar situation in Venezuela and the civil war in Syria, as well as many other conflicts. It looks like the major powers (NATO VS Russia and China) seem to be at constant odds with each other, basically supporting opposite ends of each others influence's. Likewise, when a smaller country (politically) can't get to one side they basically align themselves with the other for economic and military aid.
The fall of the USSR basically looks like the ruling bureaucracy found the cover of socialism to be inefficient, as well as the growing tensions with Russia and the other composing states, so they switched to a free-market regime on a slight majority opposition. There was obviously conflict since they tried to install a more authoritarian communist party government in the 90's, but the free market transition prevailed and the ex-communist politicians seem happy about it. China is a different story since they kept the authority that comes with a single "communist" party state, but the free market dominates there as well. The influence the two sides hold can be seen from Vietnam to Venezuela and everywhere in between.
So in short the cold war never ended, it just got a little more complicated. Even in the 20th century it didn't seem to be as much about socialism and capitalism, as it was about East vs West. Socialists that come to power still seem to favor Russia-China, while more neo-liberals favor USA-EU. Each side is looking for not only it's political aims, but it's capital gains as well. The illusion of socialism is gone, but the two-side influence is still around. As long as this influence exists, my hope for revolutionary change through parties and capitalist economics(ex: Venezuela) is basically zero.
So, I want to hear what you think about it. Cold war, over or not? If so why? If not why? If not feel free to talk about ongoing political situations from a, current, cold war perspective. Finally, if most seem to agree on a "no", this thread might fit better in "Ongoing Struggles".
Thank you and good night.
The fall of the USSR basically looks like the ruling bureaucracy found the cover of socialism to be inefficient, as well as the growing tensions with Russia and the other composing states, so they switched to a free-market regime on a slight majority opposition. There was obviously conflict since they tried to install a more authoritarian communist party government in the 90's, but the free market transition prevailed and the ex-communist politicians seem happy about it. China is a different story since they kept the authority that comes with a single "communist" party state, but the free market dominates there as well. The influence the two sides hold can be seen from Vietnam to Venezuela and everywhere in between.
So in short the cold war never ended, it just got a little more complicated. Even in the 20th century it didn't seem to be as much about socialism and capitalism, as it was about East vs West. Socialists that come to power still seem to favor Russia-China, while more neo-liberals favor USA-EU. Each side is looking for not only it's political aims, but it's capital gains as well. The illusion of socialism is gone, but the two-side influence is still around. As long as this influence exists, my hope for revolutionary change through parties and capitalist economics(ex: Venezuela) is basically zero.
So, I want to hear what you think about it. Cold war, over or not? If so why? If not why? If not feel free to talk about ongoing political situations from a, current, cold war perspective. Finally, if most seem to agree on a "no", this thread might fit better in "Ongoing Struggles".
Thank you and good night.