|
|
Post by AztecWilliam on Aug 14, 2009 22:07:39 GMT -8
|
|
|
|
Post by Bob Forsythe on Aug 20, 2009 17:45:51 GMT -8
And you would suggest we do exactly what? But more to the point, do you know enough about Russian political culture to know whether or not that culture values freedom of expression?
=Bob
|
|
|
|
Post by AztecWilliam on Aug 20, 2009 18:01:51 GMT -8
And you would suggest we do exactly what? But more to the point, do you know enough about Russian political culture to know whether or not that culture values freedom of expression? =Bob Apparently, Russians in general value order and stability over free speech, democracy, etc. (Although there are plenty of Russians who have spoken out for those values. Of course, quite a few of them are now dead.) However, if the regime ultimately fails to provide leadership in the areas of modernization and economic development, the people may ultimately decide that Putin's bargain ( Shut up and we will take care of you! ) has been a failure. They may want, in short, to press "reset." AzWm |
|
|
|
Post by Bob Forsythe on Aug 22, 2009 19:15:28 GMT -8
And you would suggest we do exactly what? But more to the point, do you know enough about Russian political culture to know whether or not that culture values freedom of expression? =Bob Apparently, Russians in general value order and stability over free speech, democracy, etc. (Although there are plenty of Russians who have spoken out for those values. Of course, quite a few of them are now dead.) However, if the regime ultimately fails to provide leadership in the areas of modernization and economic development, the people may ultimately decide that Putin's bargain ( Shut up and we will take care of you! ) has been a failure. They may want, in short, to press "reset." AzWm Now that's a reasonable statement. There is no question the Russians see "freedoms" in the same manner that we do, but there is a tight rope that Putin is walking and if he doesn't understand the political culture well enough to continue the support of the people, he might go down (well, most likely not as long as the military supports him, but who knows what thoughts occur within the Russian military). The main misunderstanding among Americans is that every political culture wants the same things that we want and that's rarely true. That's the main reason that people who specialize in "area studies" are important. Diplomats are what they are and while they may be good at diplomacy, the people who are able to understand this or that country and its political culture are capable of offering proper advice. the unfortunate part of that is that far too often they get hammered for offering the proper advice. We sent 4 people to China in the late '40s and they came back stating that Mao was going to win and we should deal with that. McCarthy and others vilified them and claimed they had "lost China", all by their lonesome, even though China was never ours to win or lose. Because of that, we entered into a war in Southeast Asia that could never be won and 56,000 people of my generation died there for no farking reason. And we have now seen it again in Iraq, albeit with a lot less dead, but every kid who dies in a senseless war is a wasted life. =Bob |
|
