tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31655026.post6919824879767808849..comments2024-03-29T14:07:15.567+00:00Comments on nourishing obscurity: The Price of OilJames Highamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14525082702330365464noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31655026.post-41101283505298232842007-06-18T14:58:00.000+01:002007-06-18T14:58:00.000+01:00I would like to think Saudi Arabia and its Western...I would like to think Saudi Arabia and its Western Allies were as clever and determined as that. I fear Mr. Gaider overestimates us.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31655026.post-1047169632952675112007-06-17T18:24:00.000+01:002007-06-17T18:24:00.000+01:00To follow Lord Nazh, I can say that I have met a n...To follow Lord Nazh, I can say that I have met a number of Soviet vets of Afghanistan who were quite clear about how screwed up that conflict was. They mostly didn't directly criticize the government (I met these folks in ~1990) but they did point out that the effort was undermined on the Soviet side by, amongst other things, massive corruption in the logistics part, a willingness to use conscripts as cannon fodder in such ways as to induce huge loss of moralle and rigid adherence to tactics that were designed for the N German plain. To the extent that Chechnya has been better it seems to be because the Russian military has at least done some thought about tactics.dirty dingushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16851047053461441682noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31655026.post-69214437625687157552007-06-17T16:36:00.000+01:002007-06-17T16:36:00.000+01:00"The ex-vets, like Amercia after Vietnam, were aro..."The ex-vets, like Amercia after Vietnam, were around to tell people of the disaster."<BR/><BR/>Have yet to meet an ex-vet that tells of any disaster in Vietnam. I have met many journalists that tell of it (and have seen/read/heard it said many times by media, political and activist-type people).<BR/><BR/>USSR collapsed because the goverment will not work with human nature. If you want everyone to be equal in ALL things, you must bring the best down, you can't prop the worst up. Eventually you have everyone on the bottom and then what?Lord Nazhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00251537214808629536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31655026.post-53222553749867408492007-06-17T13:40:00.000+01:002007-06-17T13:40:00.000+01:00Thanks so much to l'Ombre and for the comment from...Thanks so much to l'Ombre and for the comment from CUS. The conventional wisdom here was that the arms race, the primitive bureaucratic lines of communication and the lack of exports other than oil were major factors.<BR/><BR/>This might or might not be my last comment for two weeks.James Highamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14525082702330365464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31655026.post-2491794844755911692007-06-17T13:36:00.000+01:002007-06-17T13:36:00.000+01:00This is a sound case. But I thnk the reasoning is ...This is a sound case. But I thnk the reasoning is not all encompassing enough.<BR/><BR/>The political control of marxism had failed. Not just agriculture but industry too was in a complete mess. the army had also proved in Afghanistan that it could not really win a large war. The ex-vets, like Amercia after Vietnam, were around to tell people of the disaster. <BR/><BR/>Yes the west hindered the attempts at glasnost in order to hurray up the decline; but glasnost was not caused primarily but food shortages. These had not stopped stalin and kruschev had they?CityUnslickerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15929544047783163175noreply@blogger.com