“The Crash of America” author compares Obama to Gorbachev

[LargoWinch]

Re: “The Crash of America” author compares Obama to Gorbachev

Mega just posted another link involving Professor Panarin's comments at er........You know Obama said Change.... Looks like Mega's thread naming skills are still uncontested ;).

er........ I can see Jim looking for "hope" regarding Mega's thread naming.

Here is the video "Utube-style":

[lakedaemonian]

Re: “The Crash of America” author compares Obama to Gorbachev

Being a Political Science student with a focus on the Soviet Union right as it imploded, I've always been fascinated with it.

The biggest thing that stands out to me in terms comparisons between the US and Soviet Union or more specifically Gorbachev and Obama...I'm left scratching my head.

The best comparison I see is very dirty and opaque mirror opposites of each other.

So I think the rough comparison only works if the US is currently in the equivalent to the Soviet Union's mid-90's, "cowboy crony capitalism winner takes all" phase moving BACK IN TIME towards a US version of Perestroika and "Reverse Glasnost" with far greater state control and less freedom on the horizon.

That I can sort of see.

Whoever brings the REAL honest bad news of necessary reform and long-term pain with a smile in the US will surely be as hated in the US as Gorbachev will forever be in the minds of segments of Russian society desperate for what they felt they had prior to the collapse, and using the personification of Gorbachev as the punching bag to vent their anger.

Just my 0.02c

[cobben]

Re: “The Crash of America” author compares Obama to Gorbachev

"The best comparison I see is very dirty and opaque mirror opposites of each other."

I think that is a reasonable view.

Both the USofA and the USSR started as a more or less loose union of independent states (USA) / republics (USSR).

Both were melting pots for all sorts of nationalities, the main difference being that in the US it was a question of free will, whereas in the USSR it was mainly a question of decree.

Stalin especially had great fun experimenting by transporting whole ethnic groups to odd places to break their power, as when he deported the Chechens and other Cherkezy from the northern Caucasus to Siberia after WWII based on charges they had collaborated with the Nazis. That however backfired in the case of the Chechens, who quickly took control over the local authorities in Siberia who feared them, leaving the Chechens even stronger when they eventually were allowed to return to Chechnya.

[Ingvar]

Re: “The Crash of America” author compares Obama to Gorbachev

I guess what you need to remember about Panarin is that he is of a "Eurasian" school of thought. He wants to turn Russia eastwards, denying it's history as a Western country with culture formed by Christianity.

He thinks that when/if (!) America collapses, Russia would get a chance for revival. This is a pretty simplistic and dualistic kind of approach that I think is wrong in its principle.

As for the timing of his book, I agree with on of the posts - he just tries to promote himself and his agenda.