Why Do Leftists Like Islamic Terrorists So Much?
(this started as a reply to banner's posted question of the same name)
Introduction
Why do leftists (socialists/communists) like islamic terrorists so much?
( Find Out Why! )
Introduction
Why do leftists (socialists/communists) like islamic terrorists so much?
( Find Out Why! )
Comments 37
Another thing: Reagan was a joke, though admittedly not a very funny one. Besides wrecking USA's economy, the blind fool endorsed Michail Gorbachev's re-invention of the Soviet Union, making every sacrifice of the Cold War completely pointless.
I saw in another thread that you asked where the Soviet Union was now. Well, it's right where it used to be. Putin's Russia is every bit as repressive and imperialistic as the SU was, only now it has gotten rid of its embarrassing Socialist baggage.
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The Soviet Union is where it was - sure, shorn of a third of its population and of all its vassal states, shorn of the ideological claim that made it easy to recruit traitors all over the world, and with no reach beyond its own borders. Putin's clumsy attempt to scare the rest of Europe backfired spectacularly, with all of Europe united against him. There is no Soviet Union any more, no Communist International and nothing more than a middle-rank power learning to pursue its own interests in a world full of greater powers.
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In this particular case, roughly 200 miles away from Russia. I've lived for a short while in Estonia before it became independent, and I've had Estonian guests since then.
You're quite right in your description of the differences between Russia today and the Soviet Union. I'm merely objecting to the claim that Ronald Reagan defeated the Soviet Union: what he did was to facilitate the Soviet Union's rebirth as the leaner, faster Russia.
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I'm not sure what you mean by that. Elaborate.
I saw in another thread that you asked where the Soviet Union was now. Well, it's right where it used to be. Putin's Russia is every bit as repressive and imperialistic as the SU was ...
???
No, it's not. It still has (mostly) democratic, multi-party elections and (in most matters) freedom of speech. And the economy is now largely privatized. It's definitely tilting toward authoritarianism, but it would have a long way to go before it became as bad as were the Soviets -- even the Soviets of the 60's - 80's, let alone those of the 20's - 50's.
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Exactly.
They've mostly given up on the notion of building a communist or socialist society that works. They've been disappointed too often.
Think about this pattern: Russia, Eastern Europe, China, Cuba (and more, but I'm writing a comment here, not an essay). Each went through a cycle of being hailed as the next best hope of the human race, then as better than capitalism, then as no worse than capitalism, only to be abandoned in disgust as word of the crimes of the leaders filtered out into the Free World. If you were a hard leftist, wouldn't you be tempted to nihilism? You've decided that capitalist liberal democracy is Hell, and every attempt to build Heaven only builds a worse Hell.
What hope is there, then?
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It should be noted that the 19th century definition of Liberalism was vastly different then the modern American definition. Classic liberalism was very much into the idea of minimalist government, liberty, and laissez faire economics. Conservativism of that time was much more interventionist in the economy and tended to support the "old order ( ... )
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Are you suggesting that the Left only prefer right-wing terrorists?
What on earth would lead you to make this vague assumption in the first place?
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Are you suggesting that the Left only prefer right-wing terrorists?
No.
I am suggesting that, with the fall of the Soviet Union and the conversion of the People's Republic of China into an essentially non-communist authoritarian dictatorship, there are now few left-wing dictatorships willing to back terrorism on a large scale, and hence relatively few left-wing terrorists for whom the Left can make excuses.
My essay is attempting to explain the rather odd fact that the radical Left appears now to sympathize with the Islamofascists, who are after all a radical rightist tendency within the Islamic world. My conclusion is that they sympathize with them because they are the only game in town -- the only force left willing to wage war against America. Obviously, if there was a significant left-wing radical challenge to the West, the left-wing radicals would sympathize with this instead.
Do you have a substantitive critique of this analysis -- one not based on a ( ... )
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