Was the world a better place during the Cold War?

[Oerdin]

Originally posted by Serb
Like it's the end of Cold war gave us internet, not evolution of technology.

Actually it did. The interent was started by the US Department of Defense as a way for defense contractors to speak to one another and to coordinate procurment of defense related items.

That's right Serb. You are now using the fruits of the American attempt to defeat the USSR.

[Oerdin]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
That was one of the the causes of the Cold War, not the other way around. We needed an excuse for our military Keynesianism, so we came up with the great Communist threat. The Cold War pulled us out of the post-WWII recession.

So, in your opinion, the Soviet refusal to withdraw from conquored territories and their reneaging on the Yalta promise to allow free and fair elections in all liberated areas wasn't a foctor? That's funny. Every period source indicates the population at large, but especially persons in government, felt Stalin had betrayed the joint Allied declorations (of which Yalta was just one) when he set up pro-Soviet puppet regimes in the east.

Also Stalin's refusal to pull back his forces to USSR territory meant that the US, UK, and France (France was a midgit but officially still a great power) felt insecure about withdrawing their own (At the Yalta confrence it was agreed that, other then Germany and Austria, both sides would withdraw their forces following the successful conclusion of free, fair, and open democratic elections.) forces.

To this day there are people in eastern Europe who feel the US and UK betrayed them by not forcing the Soviets to honor the Yalta declaration which called for free, fair, and open democratic elections. The cold war developed from the fear that the Soviets didn't withdraw because they actually meant to take over Europe and not allow elections. Everyone, including the former enemy states of Italy and West Germany, felt their existence was in danger and so joined together in collective defense against the Soviet threat.

The Warsaw Pact was nothing more then a pale shadow of NATO because it's members had to be coerced into joining due to the fact that Soviet Armies occupied their countries and installed puppet communist regimes.

[DanS]

Oerdin: Way too long of an argument. It would be much more succinct and more easily proven to say that the economy was booming a year before 1951, when defense spending was doubled.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Oerdin
So, in your opinion, the Soviet refusal to withdraw from conquored territories and their reneaging on the Yalta promise to allow free and fair elections in all liberated areas wasn't a foctor? That's funny. Every period source indicates the population at large, but especially persons in government, felt Stalin had betrayed the joint Allied declorations (of which Yalta was just one) when he set up pro-Soviet puppet regimes in the east.

You might want to read the writings of the man who helped set up the Cold War, George Kennan.

As for free and fair elections, what about the elections in Greece and Italy that the US totally screwed with? What, it's only wrong to interfere with elections if it's done clumsily with brute force (which still shouldn't except Greece), but if your poor lots of money into a campaign, use the CIA and the Mafia to engage in fraud, and get tens of thousands of Italian-Americans to write home saying they won't be allowed to send any more money home if they vote Communist is okay?