Canada, NATO, de Gaulle, Poilievre

[Aristides]

Russia is not communist, it’s basically a kleptocracy run by gangsters whose politics are money and power. It’s actually the opposite of communism. Putin’s desire is to rebuild the old Russian Empire, not restore communism.

[blackbird]

16 minutes ago, Aristides said:

Russia is not communist,

No, it is not communist, but as this article indicates it is not really democratic either and there are still lots of people in Russia who believe in Communism.  But it is more of a capitalist totalitarian country.  It doesn't have democracy.  The proof is it assassinates opposition leaders as it recently did.

"

Is Russia Communist: The Communist Party of the Russian Federation

Although president Boris Yeltsin banned the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1991, the CPRF took its place. Although United Russia has a majority of over 60%, the CPRF is the second-largest political party in Russia. This means that there are still communists in the opposition and that quite a lot of Russians still believe in communism.

The nation has evolved toward a parliamentary democracy, but as international watchdog organizations have thoroughly documented over the years, Russia’s democratic foundations remain weak. Vladimir Putin has been in power longer than most Soviet premiers and has similar levels of power. While the trappings of communism no longer remain, the effects of the ideology and the nature of power politics in Russia have a strong line of continuity with its past."

Is Russia Communist Today? Find Out Here! - History (historyonthenet.com)

[Aristides]

47 minutes ago, blackbird said:

No, it is not communist, but as this article indicates it is not really democratic either and there are still lots of people in Russia who believe in Communism.  But it is more of a capitalist totalitarian country.  It doesn't have democracy.  The proof is it assassinates opposition leaders as it recently did.

"

Is Russia Communist: The Communist Party of the Russian Federation

Although president Boris Yeltsin banned the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1991, the CPRF took its place. Although United Russia has a majority of over 60%, the CPRF is the second-largest political party in Russia. This means that there are still communists in the opposition and that quite a lot of Russians still believe in communism.

The nation has evolved toward a parliamentary democracy, but as international watchdog organizations have thoroughly documented over the years, Russia’s democratic foundations remain weak. Vladimir Putin has been in power longer than most Soviet premiers and has similar levels of power. While the trappings of communism no longer remain, the effects of the ideology and the nature of power politics in Russia have a strong line of continuity with its past."

Is Russia Communist Today? Find Out Here! - History (historyonthenet.com)

There may be a lot of Russians who yearn for the old days but Russia isn't remotely communist. Communism is the state owning everything, today's Russia concentrates wealth among its oligarchs with a dictator oligarch holding the power, the opposite of communism. 

Very few of the world's autocracies are communist. 

[blackbird]

1 hour ago, Aristides said:

There may be a lot of Russians who yearn for the old days but Russia isn't remotely communist. Communism is the state owning everything, today's Russia concentrates wealth among its oligarchs with a dictator oligarch holding the power, the opposite of communism. 

Very few of the world's autocracies are communist. 

 We often call them Communist because they have a lot of characteristics, i.e. absolutely no human rights.  Individuals have no human rights and can be thrown in prison indefinitely at the whim of the dictator and his puppet followers.  China calls themselves a Communist system.  

When you call them dictatorships, you are letting them off very mildly.  That doesn't describe the horrific human rights violations that they inflict on many people.  Maybe you don't understand what goes on in those countries.

[blackbird]

1 hour ago, Aristides said:

Communism is the state owning everything,

I doubt there ever was a true Communist system if you go strictly by that definition and include everyone is absolutely equal.  The Communist leaders always made sure they themselves were well taken care of and they had all the privileges while everyone else had to struggle to survive.

[blackbird]

2 hours ago, Aristides said:

Very few of the world's autocracies are communist. 

"

In fact, one modern answer to the question “Is Russia Communist”  is that it is not communist at all but in fact a deranged form of a right-wing government structure that is run by a despotic maniac. They report:

Russia is a dictatorship in all but name, controlled at the top by President Vladimir Putin with his cronies and oligarch friends below him. His party, United Russia, dominates both the legislative and executive arms of government, giving him effective free reign to run the country. As seen days ago his cabinet fears him, stumbling and trembling through a scripted attack on Ukraine while Putin basked in the array of subservience before him."

Is Russia Communist Today? Find Out Here! - History (historyonthenet.com)

[Aristides]

2 hours ago, blackbird said:

 We often call them Communist because they have a lot of characteristics, i.e. absolutely no human rights.  Individuals have no human rights and can be thrown in prison indefinitely at the whim of the dictator and his puppet followers.  China calls themselves a Communist system.  

When you call them dictatorships, you are letting them off very mildly.  That doesn't describe the horrific human rights violations that they inflict on many people.  Maybe you don't understand what goes on in those countries.

That describes the likes of Pinochet, Galtieri and many other South and Central American dictators. They were not communists, they were very right wing and often overthrew socialist governments to gain power.

[blackbird]

1 hour ago, Aristides said:

They were not communists, they were very right wing and often overthrew socialist governments to gain power.

I don't support them either.  Communists or Fascists, they are both evil and deny human rights.  Socialism is evil to begin with.  For Socialism or Fascism you need a dictator and no human rights, but it still creates corrupt disastrous society.

Edited April 18 by blackbird

[blackbird]

Voters in Quebec, the maritimes, and central Canada voted for Trudeau.  They brought the present disastrous economy on themselves.  Things will get worse in the next two years before we can get rid of Trudeau.

[Dougie93]

19 hours ago, August1991 said:

The Assassination in Sarajevo started the Germanic Wars.

actually the Wars of British Hegemonic Succession

wherein the British Empire was forced to cede the global Hegemony to the American Empire of Liberty

the revanchist Germans, both Kaiser Bill & Herr Wolf, were simply the catalyst which initiated the succession

[August1991]

On 4/18/2024 at 6:45 PM, Dougie93 said:

actually the Wars of British Hegemonic Succession

 

Disagree

Reagan won.

====

Truman with his two bombs - he finessed.

[Dougie93]

1 hour ago, August1991 said:

Disagree

Reagan won.

much as I love Dutch Reagan

it wasn't him who won the war

it was Richard Nixon who divided and conquered between the Soviets & Chinese

so the war was won long before Ronald Reagan took office

Ronald Reagan's great contribution;  was rather allowing Paul Volcker to raise interest rates to 18-22%

in order to constrain the runaway inflation

but certainly the original MAGA counterrevolution was something for the Western world to fight for

Peace Through Strength

[blackbird]

Anybody who thinks government can do things better than individuals is sadly mistaken.

Socialism is government doing everything.  We see how it fails with the public health care system.

Under Trudeau the bureaucracy increased by 40%.  

Trudeau is going around the country every day talking about all things government is going to do for the people and all the money it is going to spend.  This is a disaster.  It is a form of Socialism

The contract between the Liberals and NDP is for the Liberals to meet the demands of the NDP and build more Socialism and spend more.

When people work and build society themselves without government doing everything there would be a better and more prosperous society.  Government is inefficient and wasteful.  We saw that with the Arrivecan app scandal where the government spent tens of millions of dollars on private contractors for something that should have cost a tiny fraction of that.

 

Edited April 20 by blackbird