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>>What are the similarities if any between British >>Imperial decline and the Soviet collapse? >> >>Also in the upcoming United States Presidential >>election Barack seems to have a mantra for change (as >>if the status quo can not be sustained at all) >>- Perestroika and Glasnost do spring to mind! >> >> >> >>Personally I think the British after the second Boer >>war were in the same position as the Soviet Union was >>in the eighties. The British were rapidly becoming >>the evil empire for fighting an deeply unpopular war - >>like the Soviets in Afghanistan. So why did the Boer >>conflict not become the tombstone for the British like >>Afghanistan was for the Soviets? >>The British seemed to be able to sustain their economy >>and Military Industrial Complex for almost 50 years >>and through two of the most brutal wars the World had >>ever seen. Was it simply their leadership and control >>of the population that kept it going? Gorbachev after >>all was honest and said the USSR was not working, the >>trouble seems to be the people believed him and lost >>confidence while Britain said in the early 20th >>century that the "sun never sets on the empire" and >>the British people believed this. >>This is perhaps the lesson for the new Rome in the USA >>should they want to enjoy the same longenivity as that >>ancient empire. Change is not always for the best and >>significantly downsizing your military industrial >>complex will not solve all problems. On top of that >>withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq would internalise >>frustrations which in the past could be externilised. > >>Like the Soviet Union, change or Perestroika may >>simply come to mean a downsizing of the Union. >>I do worry for the US, after all they were pretty >>benevolent and forgiving conquers for this spectred >>isle. >> >>[save for the fact we had to abandon our empire!] > >In the case of the Soviet Union there fall was going >to happen regardless of if Perestroika happened of >not. The Soviet economic system, like an >communist/collectivist economy, is inherently flawed >and in the long run was bound to fail. Now the long >run can be a long time as the Soviet showed, the >Soviets had been in decline for a quit a while be the >time Gorbachev came to power, it was just few people >in the west realized. I doubt you will any significant >downsizing of the military in the United States, but >that being said overall withdrawing from Iraq would >probably be to the benefit of the US economy, well >could be if the spending on Iraq is just ended and not >shifted to domestic spending.
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