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Zonie63 -> RE: Perhaps we should have something bigger to worry about than IS (1/15/2015 8:34:16 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: MariaB
Crisis in Ukraine could trigger nuclear war, warns Gorbachev
The former Russian leader warns that Moscow does not trust the West, and the West does not trust Moscow.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/11338393/Crisis-in-Ukraine-could-trigger-nuclear-war-warns-Gorbachev.html
I think we have bigger things to worry about inside our own house than anything else. Moscow never trusted the West, and the West never trusted Moscow.
I suppose we've always had the potential of a nuclear war, although I don't think either side is really that crazy - not yet anyway.
During the Cold War, the major fear was that the Soviets would pour into Western Europe in irresistible numbers and take the whole continent in a week. Now, we're just worried about Ukraine.
Personally, I'm not worried that "The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!" I always thought that was a bit too overblown, even during the Cold War. It is worrisome that there is ethnic conflict between the Russians and Ukrainians, who have a long, complicated, and rather messy history with each other. I'm not going to minimize it, but I wouldn't interpret it as being a resurgence of a new Cold War.
Gorbachev may be vilified by some, but all he did was take the post-Stalinist thaw to its next level. He favored more openness and wanted a better relationship with the West. I think he correctly recognized that many of the original issues which propelled us into the Cold War to begin with were no longer relevant. The ideological/propaganda war was going stale by that point. The geopolitical intrigue and brinksmanship was also pretty taxing. Plus, Gorbachev inherited a lot of economic and social problems which developed during the Brezhnev era.
quote:
ORIGINAL: MariaB
Unlike the West, Russians are hard core tough. They lived under the Bear and survived extreme hardship, so when hardship hits Russia, they've proved to us all that they just buckle down and get on with it. If the west had such heavy sanctions put on them, I honestly believe we would fall apart but I don’t believe for a moment that it will have a detrimental affect on Russia.
Yes, the Russians are indeed very tough. They've had to endure quite a lot over their history. Ukrainians are tough, too. I've also noticed that they have very deep, strong beliefs, whereas they see the West as somewhat false and superficial. They have their dark side, just as we do, but that doesn't make them unreasonable or heartless. They don't see the world as Westerners do, but they do have a point of view which they believe to be as valid as we believe ours to be. But when we in the West take an attitude of presumed moral superiority and think of them as the "evil empire," then they can easily see through that kind of BS. They're not fools.
Maybe we won't ever really be able to trust them completely, but that's probably true for most nations in the world. Of course, how many Americans actually trust US politicians? Probably not all that many, so why should anyone trust politicians from other countries and why should they trust our politicians?
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