Cover Story
Cover Story
Cancelling Democracy: The Rule Of Flaw
The first Trump presidency was a very challenging one for the world but the issues then seem to pale in comparison to the global political and economic turmoil that is currently gripping the world in his second presidency.
The last time there was such widespread geopolitical tension in the world was during The Cold War, in the period just after The Second World War and which lasted until the collapse of the Soviet Union.
It was called the‘ cold war’ because there was no direct large scale military conflict between the protagonists in this war who were the United States versus The Soviet Union. The war was fought on political, economic and propaganda fronts.
Another feature of The Cold War was the many proxy wars that were fought by the two superpowers in various countries as they each attempted to increase their sphere of influence and each tried to contain the other.
The main causes of The Cold War were traceable to various reasons but principal among them was ideological differences.
The United States was a capitalist, democratic nation while The Soviet Union was a communist, totalitarian state.
This ideological difference caused a tension between the two countries even though the two countries were allies during the war. The mistrust and suspicion were caused by The Soviet Union’ s expansionist agenda which the United States sought to contain.
The deployment of the atomic bombs on Japan by The United States also triggered an arms race between the two superpowers, with each side stockpiling a massive quantity of nuclear weapons and delivery systems.
This culminated in the current situation where there is an uneasy stalemate caused by the knowledge that if any side was to attempt to use their nuclear arsenal it would result in what has come to be known as the‘ Mutually Assured Destruction’ doctrine.
This is the major reason that the world is always nervous about who has nuclear capability because this ability in the hands of a careless demagogue can tilt the uneasy balance and trigger what can only be described as Armageddon.
The collapse of The Soviet Union did not however change the situation on the ground in regard to the military capability of the former Soviet bloc whose armament is now in the control of Russia which remains a nuclear power as previously.
The collapse of The Soviet Union should logically have eased the global competitive tension coupled while another development that should equally have caused a lessening of the tensions, the collapse of the communism as a political ideology.
Communism as an economic model failed due to a number of factors but mainly due to the fact that the model created stagnation due to public apathy given that extra individual effort did not result in a personal reward in line with human nature.
Without a profit motive, there was little incentive for people to excel and therefore the system relied heavily on coercion and state brutality to force the populace to work for the common good which was the communism ideal.
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