Cold War Question Mark

Published by

Clarissa

February 19, 2015

For the first time since I started teaching my course on Hispanic Civilization, I had to remove 1991 as the final year of the Cold War and put a question mark instead. What we thought was the end turned out to be a short pause.

I just want to remind everybody what one smart blogger wrote back in 2011:

Nobody wants to talk about Russia, though. Russia is already a huge nuclear power. It is also a country that owns a lot of oil and natural gas, has a huge population, cannot be defeated militarily, and is consumed by a huge bout of anti-Western hysteria.

Western politicians have been bamboozled by the empty talk about democracy and the end of the Cold War that Russia has been offering for two decades. This is all a sham, though. The Cold War continues. And I have no doubt that the side to lose this war will be the one that refuses to recognize that the war goes on.

And today we all have ample proof that the brilliant blogger was right this entire time.

Here is a quote from another 2011 article:

As to the end of the Cold War, if you seriously think it’s over, you need to stop spending so much time listening to the American media and turn to some external sources of information every once in a while. The winner of the Cold War is yet to be decided but I somehow doubt that you can win any war by pretending it isn’t taking place.

The really funny thing is that too many people in the US are still refusing to accept that the Cold War never ended.

Rate this:

10 responses to “Cold War Question Mark”

matt

February 19, 2015

The cold war is over in that there is ZERO chance Russia will be the world’s super power. I highly doubt you contest that right?

You are right that it is not over in the sense that Russia will become peacefully integrated into western society like Germany and Japanese empires did after their defeat.

Its important to distinguish the two. And ultimately the only thing to cause Russia to change (and most likely they other oil rich countries) is when oil and natural gas are not so powerful. The only limited resource on earth is essentially energy? Anyone care to challenge that?

Ultimately we can sell conservatives on defeating terrorist regimes and also old school communists, while selling liberals on ending global warming threat by energy reform. The country is now united 🙂 (I jest, if only that easy… but honestly that is the macro elements involved)

LikeLike

Reply
1. Clarissa
  
  February 19, 2015
  “The cold war is over in that there is ZERO chance Russia will be the world’s super power.”
  
  Of course, Russians will lose but can they just do it already and not drag out the inevitable for several more decades? Tiresome people.
  
  “And ultimately the only thing to cause Russia to change (and most likely they other oil rich countries) is when oil and natural gas are not so powerful.”
  
  I agree. Solar power + wind power are THE recipe for world stability. I had no idea you were so Green, Matt. 🙂
  
  “Ultimately we can sell conservatives on defeating terrorist regimes and also old school communists, while selling liberals on ending global warming threat by energy reform. The country is now united”
  
  This is a brilliant comment. And the winning strategy.
  
  LikeLike
  Reply
  1. matt
    
    February 19, 2015
    
    Oh, not really green.. just understand the economic and physics of energy. Honestly, isn’t it baffling that politicians from NEITHER side make this point? It can be pro business … or pro green.. while calling the other side out. I honestly do not understand why no politician has done this.
    
    I don’t think it is a conspiracy, but simply truly a lack of in depth thinking. Same on health care policy. I have second level connections to two senators. I honestly am considering trying to leverage decently close business connections and have them put me in touch with these senators (I almost can mock myself in saying that.. at how unrealistic it sounds, but I really think there is a stunning lack of knowledge that is a root of these issues.. and the money in politics issue too 🙂 )
    
    Separate note.. you know the concept of “learned helplessness”. Before I elaborate why I am curious your thoughts / reaction to concept and its application in US.
    
    LikeLike
    
    Reply
    1. Clarissa
      
      February 19, 2015
      
      “I don’t think it is a conspiracy, but simply truly a lack of in depth thinking. ”
      
      Exactly.
      
      “Separate note.. you know the concept of “learned helplessness”.”
      
      Actually, this was one of the main ideas I developed in my book (of literary criticism). The characters I was analyzing were ready to go to any length to avoid growing up. They infantilized themselves eagerly and willingly, and defended the choice to be actively helpless 🙂 with everything they had. Incidentally, learned helplessness is a quality I hate the most in people. I hate passivity, whining, and lack of agency. I left Ukraine back in 1998 because I thought Ukrainians were never going to abandoned their learned helplessness. But they are now starting to do that, and this makes me very happy. Americans, in my opinion, are the least helpless people I know. Although, it seems like learned helplessness might be coming into vogue here as well.
      
      LikeLike
      
      Reply
      1. matt
        
        February 19, 2015
        
        Wow.. we may share our word views more than I thought.. (or either of us thought). I think learned helplessness is a huge issue in the US (although I can’t really compare to other countries first hand). Part of it is because I think “systems and institutions of power” (government, big businesses, etc. are designed to be top-down… although by international standards maybe not).
        
        Is this a publicly available book of yours? link? for sale? 🙂
        
        LikeLike
        
        Reply
        
        Clarissa
        
        February 20, 2015
        
        It’s literary criticism and not interesting to the general public. But one day I will write something more general interest.
        
        My sister designed her own business in a way that would give the workers the maximum freedom and avoid micromanagement. And what do you think she discovered? People love being micromanaged. Very few actually want the initiative. And what’s that if not learned helplessness?
        
        I found out the same thing in my job: the way to make a really spectacular impression is simply to come up with initiatives of my own, suggest new things. It’s so rarely done that everybody is really appreciative.
        
        The problem is that very few people are actually prepared to take charge of themselves. It’s the weirdest thing.
        
        LikeLike
        
        Reply
Editor (Retired)

February 21, 2015

History boomerangs!

LikeLike

Reply
valter07

February 21, 2015

Some very technical article by some Australian researchers on weapons used in Ukraine (sorry for posting it semi-randomly)
armamentresearch.com/Uploads/Research%20Report%20No.%203%20-%20Raising%20Red%20Flags.pdf

LikeLike

Reply
Stille (@aperfectbalance)

February 21, 2015

Link doesn’t work, valter. You’ll need to format it like (a href=”http://linkname”)descriptive text(/a) if you want it to work properly, only with parantheses replaced by greater than/lesser than signs

LikeLike

Reply
valter07

February 21, 2015

Another attempt…

Click to access Research%20Report%20No.%203%20-%20Raising%20Red%20Flags.pdf

LikeLike

Reply