Communism the Main Conflict Between

¶ … Communism

The main conflict between Western democracy and Communism was not ideological, but political. The Soviet Union had taken control of Eastern Europe, and the encroachment of its political dominance over the Warsaw Pact nations was threatening to the West's interests in the region. Had the Soviet Union simply existed as a repressive regime with no apparent intent upon expanding its outreach and spheres of influence, the Cold War likely would not have played such a critical role in international politics. It must be remembered that the U.S. And the U.S.S.R. were allies during World War II, when the Soviet's political interests with America had coincided

The pure form of Communism as created by Marx and Engels was not practiced by any communist nation, as all were totalitarian regimes, rather than worker's collective republics. The leaders of every communist block, from Stalin, to Mao, to Castro, to Tito in Yugoslavia, created cults of personality around their personas, class-based societies where class was defined on party loyalty. The degree to which certain aspects of a collective economic system were emphasized depended upon the degree of industrialization that has existed in the nation before communism took root. In Russia, there was a particular emphasis on rapidly industrializing the country to compete with the West.

Discussion 3

Most Communist governments fell because of economic inefficiency rather than internal political revolt or external political and economic pressure. This is shown by the fact that the communist regimes that still exist in North Korea and Cuba, and even vaguely in name in China, that were able to support their populace with some minimal standard of living still stand. Their existence is based upon these nations' ability, in the case of China, to rapidly improve the standard of living in relative terms for the populace, or in the case of the island of Cuba and North Korea, to isolate the nation from exposure to images of Western, higher standards of living and to provide a better standard of living than had existed for most of the population beforehand.

Communism vs. Terrorism

Discussion 1

In the excerpt from the Modern Middle East (2004), Akram Fouad Khater succinctly states that a threat to one's interests is not a threat to one's self, in short that a government in Iraq (or Vietnam during the Cold War) that is antidemocratic is not a personal attack upon America. It is an expression of regional, nationalist conflicts and ideology that have little to do with America as a whole. Khater's tone is scholarly, but also chiding, as he stresses the lack of historical and international perspective of even U.S. policy makers

Discussion 2

Khater's point is on target, in terms of its analysis of the U.S.'s difficulty interpreting the modern Middle East. The U.S. is a young nation. It is difficult for the United States to fully understand why age-old religious and tribal conflicts can have such an eternal importance in a history-saturated region. Future relations with the Middle East will be almost inevitably be obscured by America's lack of history and its focus on its own perceptions and needs, given not only the government's lack of perspective, but also the majority of the American public's perspective, which influences their choice of leadership and the positions they pressure leaders to assume.

Discussion 3

When confronting the question if communism or terrorism is a greater threat, it cannot be denied that terrorism has much greater chance of materially impacting the lives of civilians, in terms of loss of life. On a macro scale, however, fundamentalism, rooted in poverty, a sense of voicelessness, or even an alternative cultural mindset, proves an equal danger in the form of both communism and faith-based fundamentalism. U.S. arrogance is more likely to draw the ire of other nationalities if it does not seek to learn about other cultures and political systems. It cannot simply teach freedom as a universal value, however dear that value may be to our cultural tradition.

The Making of a Generation

Discussion 1

The defining societal event of our generation will be the emergence of a global national identity. Today, a man with birth ties to Kenya as well as the U.S. may become the next president. Many people reading this thread will likely work in other nations, or at least work for multinational enterprises. A more multinational view of U.S. ideology and politics is essential to truly thrive in such a world.