[Serious] Does Trump deserve some credit if Iran...

[The Grand Nudger]

Such as, literally anything that would have seen them reach parity or near parity in any of the sectors they were lagging behind in. Maybe they should have eaten the budding oligarchs then, for starters? Wasn't that a thing communists were supposed to be keen on?

[Jehanne]

The Soviet Union was never Communist

Other than (supposedly) the early Christians, who were?

[The Grand Nudger]

Most families, as far as we can tell....early modern humans...some still existent tribes. Not in the formal political sense, ofc. It's interesting, because I think it suits us very well as a species, but probably not as individuals...and, obviously, may not be the best way to organize our productive efforts.

(the early christians were wealth redistributors decriminalizing excess while socially delegitimizing excess..so it could be used as a societal utility - but when I say early christians I'm of course referring to the people that actually did the work to build the movement..not the characters in fairy tales)

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

The Soviet Union was never Communist

Hence the modifier ‘ostensibly’.

Boru

[Anomalocaris]

Just curious, do you think that the breakup of the USSR was a good thing?

I think in the long run, the euroasia land mass which contain 80% of the world’s population, natural resource and economic potentially being mainly dominated by a lone superpower whose seat is outside of Euroasia is a profoundly bad thing that will skew power and wealth to the detriment of most of the world’s population.    So the loss of a superpower in the middle of euroasia without matching diminution of influence of the superpower outside euroasia is a bad thing.

[The Grand Nudger]

OTOH, it's a diverse place and demo, and that 80% or so have wildly divergent ideas about their self determination. A single superpower with it's seat -in eurasia- has shown itself capable of fucking up euraisia, and skewing power and wealth to the detriment of that 80%, all the same.

[Anomalocaris]

OTOH, it's a diverse place and demo, and that 80% or so have wildly divergent ideas about their self determination.  A single superpower with its seat -in eurasia- has shown itself capable of fucking up euraisia, and skewing power and wealth to the detriment of that 80%, all the same.

For a superpower on euroasian continent to achieve enduring success it necessarily must work to eventually align much of the eurasian continent into a cohesive system.   the influence of that superpower then gains when the cohesive system gains.

for a superpower off euroasian continent to achieve enduring sucrss it must necessarily keep euroasian continent both weaker than itself and fragmented and unable to coalesce because any other arrangement on the euroasian continent will dwarf the power of the off-continent hegemon and weaken that superpowe’s influence.

[The Grand Nudger]

That sounds like what you believe must happen™ for some ideological reason or another, not what actually must, or what has. As things actually went, a eurasian superpower fucked up eurasia and created exactly the outcome you feel a non eurasian seat superpower would effect. I guess..I'd suggest that there's more than one way to skin a eurasian...and you don't have to do it remotely?

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

That sounds like what you believe must happen™ for some ideological reason or another, not what actually must, or what has.  As things actually went, a eurasian superpower fucked up eurasia and created exactly the outcome you feel a non eurasian seat superpower would effect.  I guess..I'd suggest that there's more than one way to skin a eurasian...and you don't have to do it remotely?

Yup, because the Soviets were SO exemplary when it came to looking after the welfare of Ivan the plumber and his family.

Boru

[Anomalocaris]

That sounds like what you believe must happen™ for some ideological reason or another, not what actually must, or what has.  As things actually went, an eurasian superpower fucked up eurasia and created exactly the outcome you feel a non eurasian seat superpower would affect.  I guess..I'd suggest that there's more than one way to skin an eurasian...and you don't have to do it remotely?

not for ideological reasons.   for the simple practical reason that successful power achieve success by knowing on which side it’s toast is buttered. 

So an aspiring Eurasian power that does not know its success lies with success of euroasia will not endure.  on the other hand an non-Eurasian power can only hope to enduring by remembering its success lies with restricting the power and success of the Eurasian continent.