Quote:
Originally Posted by mg1942
Now that USSR doesn't exist, grievances against the USA started to surface.
Not surprised if USA's policy of containment offended many radicalists/socialist/communists. Tactics and strategies used on "containment" may a bit too harsh since they were not thoroughly well planned for long term. The ultimate goal at that time was to stop Soviet expansion by any means.
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Having had to practice hiding under my desk "duck'n'cover" in 1963 and then having worked in the defense industry with SAC in the 80s (part of Ike's 'military-industrial complex' fears) .... I think I can say fairly knowledgeably that "grievances against the US" were in full public view long before the USSR was toast. Our stunts in manipulating a country's internal affairs go all the way back to the Spanish Civil War and farther. I think you're bit misty-eyed in your assessment of the success of most of those stunts. They were short-term successful in many cases but the long-term results have been almost uniformly bad. I think our antics in South America were horrendously poor policy and we're paying *today* for things like our support of single point failures like the Shah of Iran, Saddam (yes, he was our friend til our need for him ended), and Musharaff of Pakistan. Even our "successes" like Chiang Kai-shek and the various autocrats of South Korea's "republics" were disasters for their citizens compared to what we *could* have done. The amazing thing is how we go back to the same "gonna fail in the long run" tactics over and over.
We used to watch Dr. Strangelove at parties when I was working with SAC (B-52 systems) .... not because it was funny but because it was true. We encountered officials like those on a daily basis. Functionally insane.