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Mikhail Gorbachev has died

(www.reuters.com)
970 points homarp | 11 comments | 30 Aug 22 20:37 UTC | HN request time: 1.486s | source | bottom
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lapcat ◴[30 Aug 22 21:07 UTC] No.32655071[source]▶
The United States didn't do enough to help Russia transition to democracy in the 1990s. There was no "Marshall Plan" after the Cold War like there was after World War II. This was a huge mistake, and we see the consequences now, with Russia having turned back toward totalitarianism and imperialism. Sadly, it seems that Gorbachev's efforts were mostly for naught. But it was courageous at the time to open up the Soviet Union to glasnost and perestroika.

Of course Yeltsin was a big part of the problem too.

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duxup ◴[30 Aug 22 21:18 UTC] No.32655216[source]▶
The locals in power have to want to do it too. As soon as enough don’t want it, it is over.

I’m skeptical of the idea that you can impose Democracy.

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hotpotamus ◴[30 Aug 22 21:24 UTC] No.32655305[source]▶
Republicans have long said that the federal government is structurally incompetent and unable to effectively administer a large country. They made a convincing argument with their performance in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I doubt Russia would have been much different.
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seanw444 ◴[30 Aug 22 21:36 UTC] No.32655448[source]▶
Republicans? Man, some people just can't get past the "my party vs your party" mindset.
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1. hotpotamus ◴[30 Aug 22 21:43 UTC] No.32655535[source]▶
Federalism is one of the core principles of the Republican party. I don't believe that's a controversial statement of fact, but I also didn't think vaccines or the shape of the Earth were controversial subjects, so I never know these days.
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2. nxm ◴[30 Aug 22 21:52 UTC] No.32655641[source]▶
Pushing vaccines and forcing them onto people is (or they lose their jobs). Similarly, Democratic government forced many businesses to permanently close as they were deemed non-essential.
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3. seanw444 ◴[30 Aug 22 21:52 UTC] No.32655646[source]▶
None of the people I know who voted Republican would come close to identifying themselves as federalists. In fact, it's an occasional discussion between some of us. It's almost like two parties aren't enough to describe the positions of everyone who is forced to identify with one of them.
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4. hotpotamus ◴[30 Aug 22 21:59 UTC] No.32655717[source]▶
As a child I was compelled to take vaccinations in order to attend school. My buddy in the military tells me he was "voluntold" to give blood for his fellow soldiers, nevermind all the vaccines they were required to take. Back then, vaccine denial was a loony left fringe thing, and now it seems to be a mainstream conservative position. Times change I suppose, but I do remember the old days.
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5. hotpotamus ◴[30 Aug 22 22:02 UTC] No.32655757[source]▶
> We believe our constitutional system — limited government, separation of powers, federalism, and the rights of the people — must be preserved uncompromised for future generations.

That's from the preamble of the 2016 Republican platform (the most recent one since they declined to publish one in 2020 in lieu of just doing whatever Donald Trump said); literally their statement of values. But I've long believed that Republicans rely on voters who don't actually know what they're voting for, so your anecdote does strengthen that impression of mine.

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6. avmich ◴[30 Aug 22 22:21 UTC] No.32655905{3}[source]▶
The question here is - are Republicans actually those who they write in their documents they are? Or the Republicans are those who the majority of people considering themselves Republican and voting for them thinks?

Certain degrees of federalism are, I think, common across the political spectrum, not only describe Republicans.

7. avmich ◴[30 Aug 22 22:23 UTC] No.32655927{3}[source]▶
Reading about successes fighting polio with vaccines, or just remembering a standard practice in American health system to routinely vaccinate people - with rather few exceptions - shows a big difference with COVID-related vaccine controversy. What's that different?..
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8. MichaelCollins ◴[30 Aug 22 22:44 UTC] No.32656121{4}[source]▶
The biggest difference is Polio crippled kids and they were vaccinating kids, whereas COVID mostly kills grandparents and leaves most kids unscathed.

Also, now we have facebook.

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9. micromacrofoot ◴[30 Aug 22 22:47 UTC] No.32656141[source]▶
federalism is an excuse to reduce regulation and continue stealing money from the lower classes
10. ceejayoz ◴[30 Aug 22 23:32 UTC] No.32656528{5}[source]▶
One of the un-fun potential answers to the Fermi Paradox is “everyone invents something like Facebook eventually”.
11. qwytw ◴[31 Aug 22 07:03 UTC] No.32659250{5}[source]▶
Also Polio vaccines are much, much more effective and even amongst these groups (i.e. children for Polio and seniors for Covid) Covid is much less dangerous.