Word: ussr
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Goldman does not blame ill the USSR's woes on Stalin. He cites also a "sense of cultural and historical isolation and a sense of inferiority, to show why the Soviet Union has been so wary of change. And, in a characteristic attempt to see things from the Soviet perspective, he makes clear why the Soviet people have accepted their repressive system for so long...
Which is not to say that the USSR is a benign, passive state cowering in the face of incessant threats. The impressive Soviet military industry the only part of the Soviet economy that works, essentially because of the emphasis placed upon it and the greater, market-type flexibility it is allowed belies this. But Goldman's analysis sheds light on a complex country that gets more out of its perceived national interest than through ideological fervor...
...does not attempt to respond to this query, but his work helps to indicate the most logical answers. Some Western policy makers would have the United States "out arms race" the Soviets Given our relative economic strength, the argument goes, it is only a matter of time before the USSR gives in Proponents of this game of geopolitical chicken ignore of course the vast waste of resources and danger inherent in nuclear weapons. More important, as Goldman's book suggests, the Soviets seem more likely in the long run to "our arms race" the West. Thanks to an authoritarian political...
...West use its economic leverage on the Soviets to make them comply to our will. This assumes sufficient economic contacts--hardly reality since the downfall of detente--create such leverage. But even granting its existence, certain factors indicate that the economic weapon may not be so lethal. The USSR, despite its staggering economy, does possess an impressive stock of raw materials. Ant the dismal failure of the U.S. grain embargo demonstrates the need for cooperation among the Western allies if economic corrections are to have only success. Future prospects for such cohesion are not great...
...moral consideration be in ignorant, for economic favoring would be used in effect against the Soviet people, not their leaders. And should the West somehow succeed in pushing the USSR to an economic crises, the Soviet Union could well-become more bellicose than it already is. A hungry bear, after all, constitutes more of a danger than a well...