27-12-2008, 03:40 AM
Paul Rigby Wrote:Gorbachev's campaign of reform did not arise ex nihilo, but was firmly rooted within the divisions within the Soviet elite of the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Paul
Much to think about here.
For the moment, know that your sense of divisions within ostensibly monolithic constructs is key to understanding the deeper political complexities of broader (hemispheric, etc.) ideological conflicts.
An example: To view post-revolutionary Cuba as an ideologically coherent state is to misapprehend -- fatally -- the forces whose conflicting agendas and the battles they engendered remain the focus of our attention now.
Charles Drago
Co-Founder, Deep Politics Forum
If an individual, through either his own volition or events over which he had no control, found himself taking up residence in a country undefined by flags or physical borders, he could be assured of one immediate and abiding consequence: He was on his own, and solitude and loneliness would probably be his companions unto the grave.
-- James Lee Burke, Rain Gods
You can't blame the innocent, they are always guiltless. All you can do is control them or eliminate them. Innocence is a kind of insanity.
-- Graham Greene
Co-Founder, Deep Politics Forum
If an individual, through either his own volition or events over which he had no control, found himself taking up residence in a country undefined by flags or physical borders, he could be assured of one immediate and abiding consequence: He was on his own, and solitude and loneliness would probably be his companions unto the grave.
-- James Lee Burke, Rain Gods
You can't blame the innocent, they are always guiltless. All you can do is control them or eliminate them. Innocence is a kind of insanity.
-- Graham Greene