Todd, you’re telling me Eastern Europe was "enslaved" by the USSR? Really? If we go by your fuzzy-logic, is Puerto Rico enslaved by the U.S.? Guam? The Virgin Islands? Are we going to ignore all those U.S. territories that didn't exactly sign up to be ruled by Washington?
Yet, you don't seem to have an issue with that. The U.S. took land from Native Americans, slaughtered them, and even had a whole system where human beings were owned as property, and treated like animals.
Yet somehow, you seem to think the U.S. has evolved past that, right? So why can’t a system like the USSR, where millions of people have openly expressed regret over its dissolution as I showed in my last post to you, be looked at through a different lens? You can love and defend capitalism and America, despite all of the skeletons in its closet, but if a socialist in any way says anything positive about socialism or its history, you're quick to remind everyone of its past mistakes, as if an economic or political system has to have a pristine, perfect past to be valid or worthy of adopting today in 2024.
Let me tell you something, the USSR actively stood against racism in America, supporting Black civil rights. Can you name a single time the U.S. government was on the right side of that fight until they granted Blacks their human rights? Didn't think so. The Soviets were over here backing people like Paul Robeson while the U.S. was throwing civil rights leaders in jail.
And we're not even touching on how the Soviet Union helped dismantle colonialism in places like Africa and Asia. Meanwhile, the U.S. was busy propping up brutal dictatorships just because they weren't "commies."
AFRICA
- Mobutu Sese Seko– Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo)
- Mobutu ruled Zaire with an iron fist for over 30 years (1965-1997). His regime was marked by massive corruption, human rights abuses, and suppression of political opposition. The U.S. backed Mobutu heavily with military and financial aid, seeing him as a counterbalance to Soviet influence in Africa. Mobutu was useful to the U.S. because of his staunch anti-communist stance, even though he was looting his country and allowing its infrastructure to crumble.
- Idi Amin– Uganda
- Idi Amin, who ruled Uganda from 1971 to 1979, is infamous for his brutality, with hundreds of thousands of Ugandans killed during his regime. While U.S. support for Amin wasn’t as direct as Mobutu, the U.S. was initially quite cozy with him, seeing him as an ally against communism in East Africa, particularly against the socialist regime in neighboring Tanzania.
- Hissène Habré– Chad
- Hissène Habré ruled Chad from 1982 to 1990 and was known for using secret police to commit widespread torture and political killings. The U.S. and France supported him because he was fighting against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who had Soviet backing. The CIA helped funnel military aid to Habré, even though it was well-known that he was a brutal dictator.
- Apartheid Regime– South Africa
- While not a single individual, the U.S. provided tacit support for South Africa's apartheid government for many years. Despite the brutal racial oppression of the Black majority, the U.S. was more interested in keeping South Africa as a stronghold against communism in Southern Africa. It wasn’t until significant domestic and international pressure in the 1980s that the U.S. began to shift its position.
- Siad Barre– Somalia
- Siad Barre ruled Somalia from 1969 to 1991. His early regime had some socialist leanings, but after the Ogaden War with Ethiopia, Barre switched sides to align with the U.S. to get military aid. Barre’s government became more repressive over time, and his rule eventually led to the collapse of the Somali state. Despite this, the U.S. backed him as a bulwark against Soviet influence in Ethiopia.
- Jonas Savimbi– UNITA, Angola
- While Savimbi wasn’t a "regime" in the traditional sense, he led the UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) rebel movement against the Marxist MPLA government in Angola. The U.S. provided financial and military support to Savimbi, despite the fact that his forces were notorious for committing atrocities and using child soldiers. The support for Savimbi was part of the broader Cold War strategy to counter Soviet and Cuban influence in Angola/
ASIA
- Suharto– Indonesia
- Suharto’s regime in Indonesia (1967–1998) was one of the most brutal. His rise to power involved the mass killing of an estimated 500,000 to 1 million suspected communists and leftists in 1965-1966. Suharto's authoritarian rule continued for decades with widespread repression, including the invasion and occupation of East Timor, where Indonesian forces were responsible for atrocities, killing up to 200,000 East Timorese. The U.S. supported Suharto because he was a staunch anti-communist, providing military aid and diplomatic backing throughout his reign.
- Ferdinand Marcos– Philippines
- Ferdinand Marcos ruled the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, declaring martial law in 1972 to suppress political opposition. Under Marcos, thousands of political activists were tortured, imprisoned, or killed. Corruption was rampant, with Marcos and his family embezzling billions. The U.S. backed Marcos because of his strong anti-communist stance and his willingness to host American military bases, such as Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Base, which were strategic during the Cold War.
- Ngô Đình Diệm– South Vietnam
- Ngô Đình Diệm was the U.S.-backed leader of South Vietnam from 1955 until his assassination in 1963. Diệm’s regime was notoriously repressive, imprisoning and executing political opponents, many of whom were not even communists. His administration’s oppression of the Buddhist majority led to widespread protests and instability. Despite this, the U.S. supported him because he was a strong anti-communist leader in the fight against North Vietnam and the spread of communism in Southeast Asia.
- Chiang Kai-shek– Taiwan (Republic of China)
- Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang (KMT) regime in Taiwan (1949–1975) ruled under martial law and was responsible for widespread repression, including the "White Terror" period, during which thousands of Taiwanese citizens suspected of communist sympathies were imprisoned, tortured, or executed. Despite his authoritarian methods, the U.S. provided significant financial and military support to Chiang because he was seen as a key ally in the fight against communism in China.
- Pak Chung-hee– South Korea
- Pak Chung-hee ruled South Korea from 1961 to 1979 after coming to power in a military coup. Under his rule, South Korea experienced rapid economic development, but it was also a period marked by authoritarianism, with political dissent brutally suppressed. Thousands of political prisoners were detained, tortured, or executed. The U.S. supported Pak's regime because of its anti-communist stance and its strategic importance as a U.S. ally in the Cold War.
- Syngman Rhee– South Korea
- Syngman Rhee was the first president of South Korea (1948-1960) and ruled as an authoritarian leader who used violent tactics to suppress political opposition, including the arrest and execution of political dissidents. His regime was marked by electoral fraud, repression, and human rights abuses. The U.S. supported Rhee as a key ally against North Korea and communist forces, even though he was undemocratic and deeply unpopular by the end of his rule.
- Lon Nol– Cambodia
- Lon Nol came to power in a U.S.-backed coup in 1970, replacing Prince Sihanouk. His regime (1970-1975) was characterized by corruption, brutality, and incompetence, with the Cambodian military engaging in widespread abuses. Lon Nol’s government was heavily supported by the U.S. during the Vietnam War as part of the broader strategy to counter communist influence in Southeast Asia. His rule helped destabilize Cambodia, eventually leading to the rise of the Khmer Rouge.
- General Thanom Kittikachorn– Thailand
- General Thanom ruled Thailand from 1963 to 1973, leading a military dictatorship that repressed political dissent and brutally crushed protests. His regime was marked by the imprisonment of opposition leaders and censorship. The U.S. supported Thanom’s government because of Thailand’s strategic importance in the fight against communism in Southeast Asia, using Thai bases for operations during the Vietnam War.
- Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi– Iran
- Although Iran is technically in the Middle East, it’s important to mention Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who ruled Iran from 1941 until the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The Shah was installed with U.S. and British support after the CIA orchestrated a coup in 1953 to remove the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh. The Shah’s regime was known for its brutal repression of political opponents, carried out by the secret police (SAVAK). Despite this, the U.S. supported him as a key ally in the region and a bulwark against communism.
The American plutocratic oligarchy, went to great lengths to support brutal right-wing, pro-capitalist dictatorships around the world, by engineering a massive foreign policy campaign against governments that maintained friendly relations with the USSR or received significant assistance from them. On what grounds Todd, do you see yourself as having any moral high ground against socialists on these issues? You're completely delusional when you resort to these desperate, poorly thought-out arguments that can be used against your beloved capitalist masters.
And let’s not forget as I showed in my last response to your capitalist-imperialist claptrap: in recent polls, a significant portion, sometimes even a majority of people in Russia and Eastern Europe regret the dissolution of the USSR. Now, show me a poll where Black Americans wish they could go back to slavery, or Native Americans are nostalgic for the time they got wiped off their own land.
It’s absurd to compare these two things. The people who lived in the USSR as its citizens aren’t longing for chains, they’re rather longing for a system where they felt secure, where they didn’t have to worry about housing, education, healthcare, or a job. They miss a time when they had opportunities to live a decent life, with a purpose and mission, and didn't feel like pawns in some neoliberal, capitalist game. They were mere employees, being exploited as a commodity, by wealthy capitalists.
So, yeah, maybe take a hard look at who’s really the enslaver in this conversation. The U.S.
(My country, the country that I love and risked my life for in Desert Storm and Operation Uphold Democracy) has its own dirty laundry, and we both know you’d never call it "enslaving" Puerto Rico or Guam. So why apply a double standard to the USSR and Eastern Europe?
As far as what you said about Putin threatening to invade the countries that joined NATO, show me, when that occurred. Provide your evidence and we'll see if those countries joined NATO because Putin was unjustly threatening a war with them. I will concede defeat on that issue and admit that perhaps NATO should be in Eastern Europe. I don't like bullies, and if Putin was threatening to invade Eastern Europe, out of the context of NATO expansion, I will adopt your position on NATO being there.
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