WP: Conflicted in the Former 'Evil Empire'

[kskiska]

Monday, June 7, 2004; Page A01

MOSCOW, June 6 -- Andrei Zorin was practicing his English that memorable day back in 1983, listening to the forbidden BBC World Service on the shortwave radio when President Ronald Reagan made his declaration that the Soviet Union was an "evil empire" that must be defeated.

Zorin, a dissident-minded literary scholar, was so stunned that he risked speaking openly on the telephone to his friends to tell them about Reagan's forceful words. "I jumped out of my chair and started calling," he recalled Sunday. "Of course, to us it was no surprise that the Soviet Union was such an empire, but the idea that somebody would say it from the podium, out loud, was a revelation."

For many Russians, Reagan was then, and remains today, a hero whose challenge to communism in the 1980s led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and inspired a generation of pro-democracy activists. "Walls are crushed by words," Zorin said.

But Russia under President Vladimir Putin is hardly the free society that Reagan once envisioned. Instead, it is a country deeply ambivalent about democracy, where many are nostalgic for its lost superpower status. Putin is a popular former KGB officer who has embraced Soviet symbols that Reagan sought to discredit, and Putin has all but eliminated opposition voices from the political scene. Recent surveys show that 70 percent or more of Russians regret the Soviet collapse that Reagan pursued so relentlessly -- a sentiment captured by Putin earlier this year when he called the empire's breakup "a national tragedy on an enormous scale."

(snip)

Putin stayed out of the debate Sunday, issuing no statement on Reagan's death.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20764-2004Jun6.html

[keithyboy]

1. An historic blunder to push so hard the collapse of a nation without

having the necessary social and political and economic systems in place for avoiding destablization and unnecessary hardships on the people. Much like what Bush is doing in Iraq.

Actually, Jimmy Carter's support for the Afghan fighters against the Russians did more to really defeat the USSR than anything Reagan actually did (which was next to nothing) or said.

[David__77]

2. USSR was no more an "empire" than the US.

Interpret that as you wish.

[BayCityProgressive]

3. it must not have been

that horrible of an empire if the people wish to return to it...

[whosinpower]

4. I have had the opportunity

To talk to several people who have relatives in the former USSR - now Ukraine. They went back to the homeland to visit. It was very very interesting talking to them.

They feel that the economic strife, the social turmoil resulting after the collapse will take a couple more generations before we see real stability. The young people are frustrated, angry and afraid. There is allot of crime, organized crime. There is little work. And the older generation now sees "democracy" NOT the great equalizer or generator of wealth and stability....they had more stability under communist rule, and that is what they grieve for. You see, we grew up in an atmosphere of self determination...and the soviets grew up in an atmosphere where government took care of everything. It is difficult for them to affirm self determination because it is foreign to them. The switch to having to go out and actually look for work, vs. having the government assign work for you has been rather hard for allot of these people.

[loudsue]

5. Looks like the mafia has taken over the world.....

"The young people are frustrated, angry and afraid. There is allot of crime, organized crime."

Organized crime (mafia) has become legalized under the bush administration and the take-over of the U.S. under the neocons (mafia) over the past 15 years.

Russia & the U.S. -- both terrorized by the influence of the mafia in their countries.

:kick::kick::kick: