Re:Good news at last: the world isn’t as horrific as you think
by adventured on Wednesday April 11, 2018 @06:45AM
(#16809730)
You said it's much worse.
Saying that there "are still massive problems," is a language structure admission that in fact things are obviously better.
What you're describing is a paradise compared to any number of well known periods of time in the past, including as recently as the 1950s or 1970s, much less the WW1 or WW2 time frames.
The far right in Eastern Europe, in terms of fasicsm concerns, is a trivial joke compared to the recent past in all regards. Spain as one example of real political problems in Europe, had a four decade fascist dictatorship as recently as 1975. Ceausescu ruled Romania as a brutal dictator for decades.
The worst of free Eastern Europe today is a bastion of liberalism by comparison to the recent past. Eastern Europe was almost entirely under the authoritarian boot of the USSR just 30 years ago. The people there were not only hyper poor, but they also had few rights at all.
Today Romania has a higher GDP per capita than Russia and is one of the fastest growing economies on earth.
Czech and Slovakia now have the economic per capita output of Portugal. Their economies are solidly five times larger than they were in 1991.
Deteriorating relations with Russia? See ~1948-1990.
China? See: Korean War, Mao era in general.
The West is getting along extraordinarily well with China compared to the past. The dispute today is trade, not who is going to nuke each other or when the next war begins.
Saying that there "are still massive problems," is a language structure admission that in fact things are obviously better.
What you're describing is a paradise compared to any number of well known periods of time in the past, including as recently as the 1950s or 1970s, much less the WW1 or WW2 time frames.
The far right in Eastern Europe, in terms of fasicsm concerns, is a trivial joke compared to the recent past in all regards. Spain as one example of real political problems in Europe, had a four decade fascist dictatorship as recently as 1975. Ceausescu ruled Romania as a brutal dictator for decades.
The worst of free Eastern Europe today is a bastion of liberalism by comparison to the recent past. Eastern Europe was almost entirely under the authoritarian boot of the USSR just 30 years ago. The people there were not only hyper poor, but they also had few rights at all.
Today Romania has a higher GDP per capita than Russia and is one of the fastest growing economies on earth.
Czech and Slovakia now have the economic per capita output of Portugal. Their economies are solidly five times larger than they were in 1991.
Deteriorating relations with Russia? See ~1948-1990.
China? See: Korean War, Mao era in general.
The West is getting along extraordinarily well with China compared to the past. The dispute today is trade, not who is going to nuke each other or when the next war begins.
Things have gotten dramatically better.