Reply #81: I'm a baby boomer [View All]

[Lydia Leftcoast]

who grew up during the height of the Cold War.

My late grade school years were marked by the Cuban missile crisis and frequent TV programs about preparation for possible nuclear war. Like many in my generation, I had nightmares about falling bombs, and I cringed inwardly every time a plane flew overhead.

It didn't help that I spent part of my childhood in close contact with Latvian emigres, who were rabidly anti-Soviet, and for perfectly understandable reasons, since Stalin had done terrible things to their country (mass arrests, suppression of all aspects of traditional culture that were contrary to Soviet ideology, forced collectivization, attempts to "dilute" the population by forcing Latvians to move elsewhere and forcing Russians to move in).

In later years, I've talked with Russian and Chinese emigres of my generation, and they were all taught to be terrified of an attack from the United States. In fact, the Chinese were astonished that we had been taught to be afraid of them.

Eastern Europe was seized during the Stalinist period, which gave the Soviets a de facto empire. After that, their aggressive activities were very similar to those of the U.S., namely, attempts to keep "wayward" client states in line. Think of Hungary and Czechoslovakia, and even Afghanistan. None of these were new conquests, merely attempts to prop up client governments that were facing popular rebellion.

The U.S. did similar things in Vietnam and in numerous covert and "open secret" operations. Our governments' inexcusable funding and aid for repressive governments in Central America facing well-deserved popular revolts was comparable to what the Soviets did. Chomsky was convinced that only massive opposition from a wide cross-section of American society prevented the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations from sending troops into El Salvador and other Central American countries.