Thread: Does Communism still have a role to play, or is it dead?

Originally Posted by Crocodile

I'm not sure how that scenario could be reliably prevented.

ABM and high precision weapons. Even if some lucky missile slips through the grid, 10-15 million of civilian losses might be considered 'acceptable collateral damage'.

Originally Posted by Ramil

ABM and high precision weapons. Even if some lucky missile slips through the grid, 10-15 million of civilian losses might be considered 'acceptable collateral damage'.

You see, the USSR at Andropov's time had much better strategy without the high precision stuff. Conquer the continent and don't let the US to help it. Then, eventually the US would not be able to sustain NATO alone when the world market will shrink. So, the communists in the US would eventually win. Problem solved. (Of course, relatively young Andropov did not live long.) It won't be clean like that in case the NATO would assault Russia. Not sure if the 10-15 million is a price the US politicians would be willing to pay.

Originally Posted by Crocodile

Not sure if the 10-15 million is a price the US politicians would be willing to pay.

Not now, perhaps, not yet. But what can we say about the next decade with a relative certainity? I doubt the world's economy will be able to live through the current crisis without losses. What else? Everything will become more expensive, food included. The problems with migrants will become more and more serious, etc, etc, etc.
The Middle East has a very high chances to explode which will cause oil prices skyrocket. I'm not saying that this will surely happen, but the probabilities are rather high. The rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer. A global war will be a logical move at that point. It may sound strange, but a war can in fact provide a way out of the current stalemate, not the best way, but stupidity rules...

Originally Posted by Ramil

The Middle East has a very high chances to explode which will cause oil prices skyrocket. I'm not saying that this will surely happen, but the probabilities are rather high. The rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer. A global war will be a logical move at that point. It may sound strange, but a war can in fact provide a way out of the current stalemate, not the best way, but stupidity rules...

Some time back, one smart person mentioned to me that the oil crisis in the Middle East might benefit the US oil producers since the government would authorize full scale excavation of the oil reserves. Also, when the oil prices start growing uncontrollably, other fuel options become economically viable. For example:

"The global oil-shale industry began to revive at the beginning of the 21st century. In 2003, an oil-shale development program restarted in the United States. Authorities introduced a commercial leasing program permitting the extraction of oil shale and oil sands on federal lands in 2005, in accordance with the Energy Policy Act of 2005." Oil shale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And since the production of goods had mainly shifted to the Asian countries, the export of oil might offset the import costs of goods from Asia... Anyways, not sure this is a right place and time to bring up that discussion. Probably, when the immature slogans like "The US simply wants to control the entire world and the only obstacle to that is Russia" will cease to be used irresponsibly... Anyways, you got the picture.

Originally Posted by Crocodile

Some time back, one smart person mentioned to me that the oil crisis in the Middle East might benefit the US oil producers since the government would authorize full scale excavation of the oil reserves. Also, when the oil prices start growing uncontrollably, other fuel options become economically viable. For example:

"The global oil-shale industry began to revive at the beginning of the 21st century. In 2003, an oil-shale development program restarted in the United States. Authorities introduced a commercial leasing program permitting the extraction of oil shale and oil sands on federal lands in 2005, in accordance with the Energy Policy Act of 2005." Oil shale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

... or US can be quietly preparing for a global war

Originally Posted by Crocodile

Probably, when the immature slogans like "The US simply wants to control the entire world and the only obstacle to that is Russia" will cease to be used irresponsibly... Anyways, you got the picture.

But Crodocile, dear, US really wants to control the entine world , and unfortunately Russia is not an obstacle any more.

Originally Posted by Ramil

But Crodocile, dear, US really wants to control the entine world , and unfortunately Russia is not an obstacle any more.

They were empires of 19th century who wanted to control as much of the world as possible. USA is a national state, it wants to teach life, have profit, be the first and, occasionally, perform some charity. But unlike empires it does not want to take full responsibility of the long consequences of its policy and fate of minor peoples.

Originally Posted by it-ogo

They were empires of 19th century who wanted to control as much of the world as possible. USA is a national state, it wants to teach life, have profit, be the first and, occasionally, perform some charity. But unlike empires it does not want to take full responsibility of the long consequences of its policy and fate of minor peoples.

So, what was the empire that did care about what happened to regular people?

Originally Posted by it-ogo

They were empires of 19th century who wanted to control as much of the world as possible. USA is a national state, it wants to teach life, have profit, be the first and, occasionally, perform some charity. But unlike empires it does not want to take full responsibility of the long consequences of its policy and fate of minor peoples.

These are neo-empires. They don't take responsibilities, they only exploit resources and their influence. Why taking responsibilities if you don't have to but still getting every other betefit?

Originally Posted by Ramil

... or US can be quietly preparing for a global war



But Crodocile, dear, US really wants to control the entine world , and unfortunately Russia is not an obstacle any more.

Well I hope for a comeback by Russia. Maybe in a decade or so, if Russia can take control over some of the problems it's still dealing with.

I don't by any means idolize Russia or see it as perfect in any way. It could turn evil...
But at the moment I like it better than the USA because it is just more honest and straightforward. No BS about promoting democracy and freedom by doing the opposite, and no excessive meddling in other countries' business. Plus Russians in general don't think they are Gods gift to the world and always right about everything. And it's not hard to like practically any country better than China. So I support Russia as the underdog superpower!
But it has a lot of work to do to sort itself out!

If the EU has some kind of miracle transformation and everyone learns to work together, and the EU stops driving eveyrone crazy with bureacracy and irritating foreign policy... then I'd support the EU of course.