Cold wars, winners and losers

The First Cold War of 1947-1991 was a non-military, ideological confrontation between the democratic West and the communist dictatorships of the East. At the head of this war was the United States and its respective allies on the one hand, and the Soviet Union and its satellites on the other.

The Cold War served to maintain peace between East and West for half a century and was based not on the widespread theory of a “balance of terror” but on “mutual distrust”. This was the solid foundation of all business. Because, in practice, the Cold War was based on a series of mutually beneficial and balanced agreements between East and West in all areas that allowed the two blocs to live together peacefully.

That both blocs developed armaments industries to build conventional weapons and nuclear weapons did not mean that either intended to wage war on the other. This was the perceptual fear of common people around the world that was attributed to domestic social peace. The construction of arsenals offered both Americans and Soviets the opportunity to claim leadership – each with their own sphere of influence and above all to develop arms sales to the NATO and Warsaw Pact countries.

Although the two blocs officially and hypocritically fought for peace, they also actively supported local conflicts and revolutionary movements in their areas of influence, as this meant more sales of conventional weapons.

The Cold War was a confrontation of ideals, values, principles and propaganda, all of which were the only weapons in the vast arsenals of the warring parties. At first glance, with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the dismemberment of the Soviet Union two years later, the democratic West was the undeniable winner of the Cold War. However, there is a second interpretation: apart from the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the dictatorships of the Eastern bloc, communism was the winner and communists the loser.

Communism ultimately won because it corrupted the democratic values ​​and principles of Europe that were once the cradle and spirit of freedom in the world. However, after the end of the Cold War, the United States suffered a similar deterioration.

During the Cold War, Soviet propaganda was mainly aimed at two main recipients – the United States and Europe. In Europe, Soviet propaganda had a very serious impact, so we can easily say that Soviet disinformation has transformed the principles of liberal democracy. Under the increasing influence of the various communist parties in many countries, Europeans made serious concessions to workers, employees and civil servants and introduced the political concept of “social democracy” as a buffer for “real socialism” in the Eastern Bloc.

In this sense, communism won liberal democracy in Europe by turning it into a mixed system in which the economic establishment benefits disproportionately thanks to a free market system, while workers, employees and civil servants get more than they earn for their work . And all of this is paid for (taxes) by liberal professionals and small businesses.

This is the structural reason for the endemic economic crisis in Europe. Very few pay for excessive profits and undeserved benefits for workers, salaried employees and civil servants.

Contrary to what was happening in Europe, and because of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s excesses and Red Fear of McCarthyism in the early 1950s, communist propaganda had no impact on the United States. During the Cold War years, the United States experienced great economic growth, while all working citizens enjoyed the fruits of its labor.

The problem in the US emerged in the post-Cold War 1990s, when the financial community, with no communist threat, captured citizens with irrational loans while developing parasitic activities to take advantage of the low savings of ordinary people.

That was the first cold war.

The context of the Second Cold War is different because it is not ideological. Hopefully it will be a non-military confrontation too. This time, Western civilization is competing against China’s communists and their allies.

The Second Cold War was launched in 2017 by outgoing US President Donald Trump, who advocated the State Department and Defense Department’s concerns about China’s growing influence. The logic is simple: if China is not included now, in less than two decades the Chinese will dominate the world economically and politically.

The Chinese “weapons” in this confrontation are the cheap consumer goods that are offered in abundance to Western markets through a network of Retail stores under the control of the Chinese Communist Party, generous loans available to all countries in difficulty; and the extremely low production costs offered to western industrial companies setting up factories in mainland China.

There is no doubt that, at the right time, the West will similarly strike back with a series of economic regulations aimed at isolating China from the world order and reducing its financial clout. The West’s “arsenal” will contain “noble” arguments that would appeal to potential Chinese sympathizers; H. To address youth and intellectuals on issues such as human rights and environmental pollution.

The question remains, however, who will lead the confrontation from the currently confused and leaderless Western bloc.

The United States has lost its moral foundation in the eyes of its traditional Western allies to continue to lead the Western world, following the deep political division between the American people over the results of the recent presidential election. This is all the more true as Wall Street and the deep American industrial corporation are against any confrontation with China. Recall what Vladimir Lenin wrote: “When the time comes to hang the capitalists, they will vie for the rope contract.”

The European Union is a political non-unit.

Despite its slow path to democratization, Russia will still need at least two or three generations to completely strip its DNA from its recent Soviet past.

Under these circumstances, only India remains to wage the Cold War against China. India is the largest country in the western world and is on a stable course towards further democratization. Its economy is free in the context of free competition, it has direct borders with China, and among all western allied nations it is less prone to compromise with the communists of Beijing.

Today’s China and India have two diametrically opposed philosophies of life, both of which reflect the principles and values ​​of their founding fathers – Mao Zedong and Mahatma Gandhi.