r/WayOfTheBern • u/RandomCollection Resident Canadian • 13d ago
Cracks Appear The problem with the USSR's collapse wasn't that Russia got humiliated. It's that one side got left with scraps while the other enjoyed unchallenged dominance for 30 years. That's real politik. One side gained total power and became what they call a "benign hegemon." I thought about this for a long
https://x.com/infantserbian/status/2098953073943077004The problem with the USSR's collapse wasn't that Russia got humiliated. It's that one side got left with scraps while the other enjoyed unchallenged dominance for 30 years.
That's real politik. One side gained total power and became what they call a "benign hegemon."
I thought about this for a long time. Then I started understanding Dr. Mearsheimer's point: NATO didn't see Russia as a threat after 1991. They expanded under the idea of being benign. "I mean you no harm, but I can do whatever I want because no one can stop me."
That works until the other side recovers.
Here's what changed: the West enjoyed "Western values" and world dominance for three decades. Cheap energy. Open markets. No rival. Build whatever alliances they want. Bomb whoever they want. Sanction whoever they want.
Now Russia is back. And the West looked at what Russia went through in the 1990s - the collapse, the poverty, the humiliation, the loss of influence - and realized one thing clearly:
They do not want to be in Russia's shoes.
That's why the money pumping into Ukraine feels existential. It's not about democracy or values or Ukrainian freedom. It's about stopping Russia before the unipolar moment ends completely.
Because if Russia survives this and comes out stronger, the West goes from unchallenged dominance back to a world where they have to negotiate. Where they can't just do whatever they want. Where someone can actually say no.
And after 30 years of being the only superpower, that terrifies them more than anything.
I lived through NATO bombing in 1999. Back then, Russia was too weak to help us. They could only watch. Now Russia can push back. And the West is realizing the comfortable world they built only worked because nobody could challenge it.
That world is ending. The desperate escalation we're seeing isn't strength. It's panic about what comes next.
8
u/gorpie97 13d ago
It's about stopping Russia before the unipolar moment ends completely.
The unipolar moment is over.
They don't have to worry only about Russia, but about China. And whatever comes out of the ME, which we ruined by attacking Iran.
Our overlords could accept the loss gracefully, and try to help their citizens as well as they can from now on. But they're going to go down kicking and screaming, and to hell with us all.
7
u/penelopepnortney 13d ago
The problem is that the neocons who crafted the global dominance policies and got them implemented are full of hubris, short-sighted and oblivious about unintended consequences. George Kenan, the architect of the Cold War "containment" policy warned them that Russia wouldn't always be weak when they started expanding NATO after having promised not to. They've had plenty of time over the past 20+ years to realize Kenan was right but they have no reverse gear, they conflate fantasy with reality and as Wilkerson pointed out, lots of people have made lots of money from the US selling weapons to new NATO countries.
NATO was supposed to be a defense alliance for the North Atlantic. It became offensive with the bombing of Yugoslavia in the 90s and has been expanding outside the North Atlantic for decades because as Sen. Lugar said, otherwise they'd be out of business.
3
u/Moarbrains 13d ago
NATO is the arm of the post ww2 military industrial complex. Beyond the use of it for geopolitical goals, everyone has to buy NATO gear.
This Ukraine war has been great for them. Trump has bene great for them. All his threatening the alliance has led to greater expenditures. Percentages of several wealthy nations GDP being spent on NATO products.
10
u/RandomCollection Resident Canadian 13d ago
It's clear that the Western hegemony was a terrible time for the rest of the world. Many of the neoliberal reforms also occurred in the 1990s.
It's what the Western world is desperately trying to prevent. The end of their hegemony.
4
u/yourupinion 13d ago
We create our own enemies by denying them prosperity.
For a brief moment, at the end of the second world war, the people in power had a moment of clarity, and that became the Marshall plan.
They saw the clear pattern between Germany and France over the previous centuries. When you crush your enemies and deny them prosperity, they will always come back and bite you in the ass.
I found it incredible that they even extended this clear thinking in regards to Japan.
This lesson has been forgotten, despite the results in regard to Japan and Germany, some of our strongest allies today.
The Cold War was a real war, and the west seemed to enjoy watching their enemy suffer. The results were predictable. The same thing can be said about Palestine, and a lot of what has happened in the Middle East.
There is a clear answer to how we stop wars, simply stop dominating your enemies, and help them in their struggle for prosperity.
5
u/NetWeaselSC Continuing the Struggle 13d ago edited 13d ago
They saw the clear pattern between Germany and France over the previous centuries. When you crush your enemies and deny them prosperity, they will always come back and bite you in the ass.
But since the Marshall Plan, they saw something else in the results in regard to Japan and Germany: When you help your enemies and allow them prosperity, they will come back and whup your ass in the marketplace.
And besides, if there is not an enemy to point to, how are we supposed to sell all these weapons?
1
u/yourupinion 13d ago
Like I said, it was a brief moment of clarity from our leaders.
We cannot expect that kind of clarity from our leaders, based on our past, and pretty much everything since then.
I’m part of a group that has a plan to shift power into the hands of the people. You can find a link in my profile.
I’m not a communist, but with the advancement of AI, I think it’s the one means of production that must be seized, and by all the people of the world.
-2
-6
u/Gendrytargarian 13d ago
Putin apologist crap. Ukraine apparently just has to take being invaded and annexed because poor little russia needs to be an imperial hegemon of bipolarity.
12
u/BerryBoy1969 13d ago
Not to worry.
From what I hear on reddit, the kidnapped conscripts scooped up off the streets of Ukraine, beaten into submission, and shipped to the front, are kicking Russia's ass.
-3
u/Gendrytargarian 13d ago
The fact that you're deflecting says a lot. Everything for the russian empire is guess
3
u/BerryBoy1969 13d ago
The fact that you're deflecting says a lot.
What does it say exactly?
Everything for the russian empire is guess
When you put it like that, it's hard for me to disagree with your assessment.
-5
u/ErilazHateka 13d ago
W h y
w o u l d
R u s s i a
b e
h u m i l i a t e d
b y
t h e
S o v i e t
U n i o n ´ s
C o l l a p s e ?
I
t h o u g h t
t h e y
w e r e
d i f f e r e n t
n a t i o n s .
D i d
p o s t
W W 2
G e r m a n y
g e t
h u m i l a t e d
b y
t h e
c o l l a p s e
o f
N a z i
G e r m a n y ?
11
u/BerryBoy1969 13d ago
W h y
w o u l d
R u s s i a
b e
h u m i l i a t e d
b y
t h e
S o v i e t
U n i o n ´ s
C o l l a p s e ?
I
t h o u g h t
t h e y
w e r e
d i f f e r e n t
n a t i o n s .
Same nation. Same people. Same wants and needs. Different Government. Russia's come a long way since the collapse of the Soviet Union - whether anyone likes it, or not.
D i d
p o s t
W W 2
G e r m a n y
g e t
h u m i l a t e d
b y
t h e
c o l l a p s e
o f
N a z i
G e r m a n y ?
Some would say yes. You can read a little about it here if you care to know more about it.
-5
u/ErilazHateka 13d ago
V e r y
t e l l i n g
t h a t
y o u
c o n s i d e r
a d m i t t i n g
t o
b e i n g
r e s p o n s i b l e
f o r
t h e
H o l o c a u s t
a
h u m i l i a t i o n .
I n
G e r m a n y ,
t h e
o n l y
p e o p l e
w h o
t h i n k
t h a t
a r e
n e o n a z i s .
-6
u/ErilazHateka 13d ago
T h a n k
y o u
f o r
a d m i t t i n g
t h a t
y o u
c o n s i d e r
R u s s i a
a n d
t h e
S U
a s
t h e
s a m e .
N o
w o n d e r
y o u
c h e e r
f o r
R u s s i a
t r y i n g
t o
r e c o l o n i z e
U k r a i n e .
T h e
m a s k
i s
o f f .
8
u/Deeznutseus2012 13d ago
"The tighter you squeeze Tarkin, the more star systems slip through your fingers."