lord of flies

One of the very first things Lenin did was legalize homosexuality. And Uzbeks and Turkmen could walk the streets, side by side... It had its flaws, but even the "rich" in the Soviet Union were far less wealthy in comparison to the common man than they are/were in the West. That is not a class system and "party faithful" made up a huge part of society, including soldiers, workers, and peasants. "91/92" wasn't Glasnost, it was the collapse of the Soviet Union. '92 was after the Soviet Union was dead, actually.

Imperialism is not like communism, in particular: a) Because imperialism is about resource extraction, any humanistic accomplishments which may occur being purely accidental and rare. b) Because imperialism is sexist, racist, homophobic, and transphobic while communism is anti-sexist, anti-racist, anti-homophobia, and anti-transphobia. c) Because imperialism divides a society, stratifies classes and creates social orders where the rich oppress the poor, while communism unites it and destroys the class system. The revolution and the counter-revolution are not the same because their results and goals are completely different.

Yes. Try reading about Soviet industrialization and its huge effect on the Soviet war effort. lmao 29 million people were knowingly starved under your ****ty system and you won't "[waste] time looking into them," not because "you have only heard about them from a man whose concept of history is doubtful," but because you romanticize the British Empire and knowing that the leaders of the British Raj in India got angry whenever famine relief was attempted by local administrators would absolutely destroy your resolute, nationalistic picture of your awful country's awful history.

ha. This is incorrect, they did not "plant the seeds of developed economy" nor turn countries away from "rural agrarian" social structures. Contact with Europeans may have accomplished that, but Europe focused far more on extracting natural resources from its colonies than giving the "savages" industry. Rulership of the Europeans created division where once there was none, creating ethnic conflicts which still mire these societies and serve as a great hindrance to development. I don't worship Stalin, I have a nuanced view of him, and because I am capable of understanding nuance I am capable of understanding that Stalin was a net benefit to the world because the awareness of the Great Purge and his other excesses does not prevent me from recognizing his vital role in destroying the Nazi threat.

None if you agree with the statement. I never said that only Stalin's genocidal policies could have lead to a defeat of the Wehrmacht. However, his economic policy in 1928 - that is, collectivization - lead to the rapid industrialization of Russia. Before Communism, Russia was a country that got its ass beat by Japan (and Japan's economy in 1905 was not that good; it had potential for growth that propelled it forward, but in 1905 it was at around Russia in per-capita levels). It was the economic rear end of Europe. Yeah, it had a lot of manpower, but as technology advanced, manpower became less and less important. And before you make any ridiculous claims about a White Russia being able to industrialize just the same: Russia did not have the potential to industrialize as Japan did, because it had completely different economic conditions. Japan had textile factories that could compete internationally without government intervention; Russia had a ****load of farmland that wasn't due for any technical innovation until after WW2. Russia industrialized because collectivization lead to urbanization, as production in the countryside was rationalized, thus causing excess manpower to move into the cities. If a different leader had emerged who also pushed this economic policy, that would have been excellent, since they probably would not have delved into Stalin's paranoia. But there wasn't a different leader; Bukharin wanted to maintain NEP (which was coming apart at the seams by 1928), Zinoviev criticized collectivization repeatedly, and Trotsky had all the political skills of a dead fish (and also criticized collectivization). With any one of these guys, collectivization would have come much slower, if at all - and without collectivization (and thus urbanization and thus industrialization), Russia would not have been able to stand up against the Nazi menace and what few "untermenschen" survived would be speaking German.

The Red Army killed the vast majority of Nazi troops. 5.5:1 ratio of Nazis killed by the Soviet Union to Nazis killed by the entire rest of the allies. Nice counterargument... wait.

Yes, I do admire the man who industrialized the Soviet Union and lead it against the Nazis. Certainly the Great Purge was overzealous, but the net effect of Stalin was the defeat of the Nazi menace, a monstrosity far greater and more terrible than the Great Purge. I'll remind you that in four short years the Nazis killed over twenty million Soviet citizens, and they would have done far, far more if they'd had the opportunity. Stalin (alongside the Soviet peoples, of course) denied them that opportunity. It had its price, greater than it needed to be, but "Stalinism" was a net good for the world.

So, 213374U, would you agree with the following statement: "Spanish colonial rule was unequivocally a net negative to humanity at large"? Walsingham, would you repeat that with respect to Britain? Of course not, we already know you're a goddamn Victorian romanticist, idealizing the empire that starved tens of millions of civilians in the death camp called the British Raj in India. It is truly disgusting and vile, the inability to accept the brutality of your forefathers when their crimes are so vast. American colonial rule (e.g. the Pacific islands) and neo-colonial rule (e.g. Latin America) was unequivocally a net negative to humanity at large. Same too for every European, esp. the Belgians, Brits and French.

Whoa Hey Brits, remember: your country had a quantifiably worse effect on the world during the colonial era than ****ing Belgium. Stop romanticizing the mass starvation of Indians as you export their food.

WTF?! There is no way she is in her forties. This is ridiculous, Obsidian. I mean, I know a lot of people got all hot and bothered by her (yo) even though she was supposedly underage so you had to raise her age... but to her FORTIES? Come on now. Is she a vampire or something?

Solution to "illegal" immigration: Make the immigration process for unskilled laborers much, much easier - that is, abolish bull**** quotas which make legal immigration for unskilled laborers virtually impossible. End the war on drugs, make Mexico end theirs too. Destroy all those narco-terrorists by starving them out as massive pharmaceutical corporations take over the business of distributing opiates.

Woop woop woop woop. The Soviet Union never had sufficient means to exert their will by pure force of arms? That's supposed to be wittily ironic? You seem to think that the country which ran one of the greatest navies in the world never had the means to exert their will by pure force of arms. And then you think... what, the Soviet Union ran on its military might alone? The Soviet Union (excepting high Stalin) used far less force to maintain control than the British Empire did. The suppression of perceived counterrevolution in Czechoslovakia killed less than a hundred people, for example.

Woop woop woop woop.

Now, bear with me here: What if corporations co-opted protests? I was attending a protest earlier in the week, and the thought struck me that people notice and react to protesters far more than they do to ordinary billboards and commercials. So what if, for example, Pepsi organized a nationwide anti-Coca Cola protest? Is this the most horrible idea ever?

Actually, Egypt has lifted their blockade but strangely the second floatilla is still heading toward Isreal. Weird huh? I wonder what could possibly be their motivation. Gaza is not part of Israel.

Yes, Britain would be in the wrong. IIRC the only legal reason to board a ship in international waters is if it is believed to be a pirate ship.

lmao assuming that the cargo would have gotten through. Israel routinely stops humanitarian aid, the only reason this aid got through at all is damage control on Israel's part. What is considered "contraband" is something Israel does not even publicize, and includes things like concrete, cilantro, and fresh meat."Fair and Balanced"

Ah, I see. Food aid for the people of Palestine is an act of war and gives Israel the right to board a humanitarian vessel in international waters and then shoot its occupants.

Believe what you like, I don't care to list dozens of bull**** "qualifications" I have before starting an argument, unlike a certain somebody. At one point, half the planet lived under a planned economy. But I guess that the experiences of the people of Russia, China, India, Yugoslavia, Cuba, etc. are "on paper and nowhere else."

My favorite part about this discussion (besides the SECRET IRANIAN CONSPIRACY TO OVERTHROW ISRAEL, of course) is that somehow, civil disobedience is awful and terrible and the people who engage in it share in the responsibility for whatever the government does. When Gandhi got arrested by the British in 1930, he totally deserved it, hand on my heart.

Like I said: I don't feel the need to swing my do-gooder e-***** around.

Yes, and that would be wrong too. **** Russia and its ****ty right-wing authoritarian government. Putin is a piece of human refuse who should have been thrown in the garbage along with his awful party.

Okay, please. Go ahead. What was it that made these people extremists worthy of being shot? No, that's not how it works.

Maybe some Israeli Commandos? Just a thought.Better get your facts straightened out. No activists were hurt, only the extremists.I hope that you don't fell bad that no activists were hurt, because now you can't blame Israel for shooting innocents. Oh, I think I get it. If you jump on a boat in international waters (illegal, by the way) and open fire on civilians who are acting in self-defense, it is OK, so long as you remember to call them all "extremists" afterward.

lol so I can just dump oil all over your house? Cool, good to know.