08-25-2016, 06:34 PM
[quote pid='7753' dateline='1472099330']
Absolute monarchy in all but name and Marxism-Leninism are both found wanting. Juche is a nationalistic autarky as an attempt to patch the problems of a tyrannical regime.
Saddam Hussein did well enough for the Iraqi economy until he invaded Kuwait and turned the rest of the world against him, even doing fairly well with the oil revenues that he did not take a cut from. (Of course he was also a fascistic butcher, but that is another story). Qaddafi is the sort of leader one gets when all opposition of any kind is abolished. Qaddafi was coked up so often that he got crazy.
Nostalgia for Qaddafi, Honecker, and Ceausescu? Nice try. Maybe should "Daddy" become President we will start having nostalgia sessions for Papadopoulos, Franco, and Pinochet. All in all, I wish that Mikhail Gorbachev had succeeded in transforming the Soviet Union into a full democracy.
Tunisia remains to be seen as to whether it will develop a stable democracy. I'm not holding my breath, but even should it, provided that said democracy is not imposed from without, it certainly will not be a western democracy, but rather an Arab one.
[/quote]
...and Italy, the western zones of Germany, and to some extent France had political systems imposed from elsewhere.
Fascism is nearly pure pathology, whatever the culture. One cannot count on the USA preserving a pathological order where it prevails after defeating a thug regime. I would expect Japan to do much the same should it end up at war with North Korea. North Korea has a political order of almost pure pathology.
Kinser79 Wrote:(08-15-2016, 06:11 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: Wrong about North Korea.
Actually I'm not. I strongly recommend that you study both Marxism-Leninism and Juche and come back to me with how Marxist-Leninist Juche is. I'm not going to argue from your ignorance of the subject.
Absolute monarchy in all but name and Marxism-Leninism are both found wanting. Juche is a nationalistic autarky as an attempt to patch the problems of a tyrannical regime.
Quote:Quote:Horrible analogy. One must open the vents of a pressure cooker lest one have a bomb
Are you assuming that Hussein and Qadaffi didn't have said vents? They did. In fact their primary vent was blame all the problems the country in question had on the West, which it should be noted the West happily obliged in assisting with through sanctions and other meddling.
Saddam Hussein did well enough for the Iraqi economy until he invaded Kuwait and turned the rest of the world against him, even doing fairly well with the oil revenues that he did not take a cut from. (Of course he was also a fascistic butcher, but that is another story). Qaddafi is the sort of leader one gets when all opposition of any kind is abolished. Qaddafi was coked up so often that he got crazy.
Quote:Quote:I know of at least two cases of murder in which a perpetrator heated a pressure cooker while leaving the valve shut. I see more of an analogy between Qaddafi and Ceausescu; both had the chance to open the valves a little so that they could get out with their skins intact (like Honecker, Jaruzelski, Husak, and Zhivkov) and failed to take it. Such was a great mistake. Saddam Hussein? It was only a matter of time for him or one of his two worthless sons.
Actually Qaddafi's government was relatively stable until the CIA started stirring up trouble. Ceausescu, Honecker and ect were doomed as soon as Gorbachev started Glasnost and Perestroika.
Nostalgia for Qaddafi, Honecker, and Ceausescu? Nice try. Maybe should "Daddy" become President we will start having nostalgia sessions for Papadopoulos, Franco, and Pinochet. All in all, I wish that Mikhail Gorbachev had succeeded in transforming the Soviet Union into a full democracy.
Quote:Quote:India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Tunisia would seem to contradict you.
Japan and South Korea have had their political systems imposed on them by the West. Namely the US.
India accepted the political system of their former colonial master (the UK) because all other options were worse (and unacceptable). The natural course of events for a society which has over 1 billion people, over 100 languages, and as many religions. India is a polyglot state, it either develops a democracy or it shatters.
Taiwan may be a democracy but it is not a western democracy. Even so it is a democracy only in as much as not being a democracy means that the US would withhold military and economic aid. In short having democratic forms is preferable to being ruled by Beijing (which it should be as "Taiwan" is really a province of China anyway).
Tunisia remains to be seen as to whether it will develop a stable democracy. I'm not holding my breath, but even should it, provided that said democracy is not imposed from without, it certainly will not be a western democracy, but rather an Arab one.
[/quote]
...and Italy, the western zones of Germany, and to some extent France had political systems imposed from elsewhere.
Fascism is nearly pure pathology, whatever the culture. One cannot count on the USA preserving a pathological order where it prevails after defeating a thug regime. I would expect Japan to do much the same should it end up at war with North Korea. North Korea has a political order of almost pure pathology.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.