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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 12, 2026

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That was not gonna keep Soviet tanks from crushing all that they could.

Or Chinese.

Sorry, the USSR managed to industrialize and become a major military power despite the dysfunctional system.

FFS, just look at what a shithole North Korea is. Guess what though? They have a massive military and even nukes.

Except the Soviet tanks couldn't even handle their neighbors and wound up bogged down in Afghanistan whereas the Chinese tanks similarly couldn't make it past Vietnam. A massive military and nukes are worthless without the massive economy to back it up; the Communists never figured out economics and were perpetually gimped in that respect. The Soviets only achieved significant conquests when they were fueled by American lend lease.

The real growth in Communism didn't come from Soviet tanks imposing it by force, it came from anti-imperialist movements adopting it pragmatically after America chose to back the European imperial powers after WW2 for some reason. Ho Chi Minh famously was a fan of the American system until they turned him away.

You do realize we were funding and backing a lot of the resistance the Soviets faced in Afghanistan, right?

The real growth in Communism didn't come from Soviet tanks imposing it by force, it came from anti-imperialist movements adopting it pragmatically after America chose to back the European imperial powers after WW2 for some reason.

That is not a great reading of history, particularly concerning Eastern Europe following WWII.

Also it's pretty funny because of how much pressure the US put on the imperial powers it "backed" to give up their holdings.

The anti-interventionist take against the US facing down global communism is one I'm used to arguing with leftists about. Good job taking a new line.