In article
<66d35fc1-61d0-40f7-9274-4d33c84b370d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
=?ISO-8859-13?Q?P=E7teris_Cedri=F2=F0_=28Peteris_Cedrins=29?=
<cedrins@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
<deletions>
>
> Hey, my reaction was to a single phrase by Eugene --
>
> > > The two protracted wars that the United
> > > States has been waging in Afghanistan and Iraq have produced nothing
> > > tangible
>
> Using logic even MTRP must acknowledge -- my point is that there's
> plenty that's _tangible_.
Point taken. I should have hedged my phrase with a "virtually".
>
> I very well know that Eugene will indulge in Homanesque howling
> defending and/or ignoring Russia, Myanmar, Islamists, etc. to the end
> of his days -- if this was 1938 or so,would he be explaining how Nazi
> Germany is on the democratic path and Weimar meant chaos?
When commenting on one issue it is not generally wise to drag in
everything but the kitchen sink.
I never ignore Russia. Myanmar seems to be almost as silly a country as
North Korea, but other than being saddened by the fate that has recently
befallen so many of its people, it is not a place that I think about all
that much, even if I am aware of and distressed by its disregard for basic
human rights.
As to the early days of the Hitler regime, the case is more complex. The
first few years saw a clear improvement in social order, employment, and
national pride. There were even attempts, nowadays generally overlooked or
forgotte, to solve the "Jewish question" in Germany by reaching an
agreement with Zionist organizations and allowing an orderly flow of Jews
to emigrate from the Reich and settle in Palestine. The price paid for the
improvements of Wiemar that marked the first years of the Hitler regime
was the militarization of society, the persecution of selected minorities,
and a gradual entrenchment of a misanthropic, undemocratic mindset, one
that eventually accepted mass murder as an acceptable methodology for
solving societal problems. Hitler and his inner circle had a set of
objectives that would have been good for what they considered to be the
best of the Germans, but horrible for just about everyone else. Putin and
Medvedev are far more internationally minded and they see Russia being a
prosperous, respected, and constructive member of the internatonal
community as good for Russia as well as good for its neighbors and the
world.
We were primarily dealing with Russia. Having followed Soviet/Russian
issues since I first starting studying Russian half a century ago
(September 1958), I am simply not as pessimistic about where Russia is or
where it is going as many people here seem to be. There is no royal road
to or one-size-fits-all form of democracy. Russia tried an unrestrained
form during the Yeltsin era and got burned. It is now paving its own path
and doing much better; the most im****tant factor being the development of
a sophisticated and travelled middle class that knows how Russia stacks up
against the rest of the world and understands what remains to be done. If
we have learned one thing and nothing else from developments in Russia
since the collapse of the USSR, it is that you cannot run until you have
learned to crawl and walk first.
> Probably
> not, because Gene, more than anybody I've ever met, is an unchanging
> product of the _gaism=E7nas_his time.
The exotic word did not show up on my display. Could you xlain what it was
supposed to be?
> One worries about apples that
> never rot.
Thre are (quasi-)eternal truths. One of them is that Russia is big and
cannot be ignored.
> Anyway, it's fascinating.
Fascinating indeed. Russia is arguably a better place than it has ever
been before in its history, by no means a pleasant country to live in yet,
but with most of the structures in place to evolve into a serious and
constructive major player on the world stage. Yes, it has warts and it is
not above playing cynical games for short-term objectives or to save face.
Unlike a certain superpower that I would rather not name, it has learned
that there is no future in fighting dirt-poor desert peoples with 21st
century weaponry, and that waging "wars" against abstractions such as
terrorism and drugs is counterproductive.
Regards,
Eugene Holman
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