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A comment on Military seizes control in Myanmar. Parent comment

Re:Military seizes control in Myanmar by axguscbklp on Monday February 01, 2021 @01:00AM (#25986007)
For most of the second half of the 20th century, the USSR existed, China was (as it still is) authoritarian, and the US supported authoritarian regimes in places like South Korea, Indonesia, Iran, and Chile. US-supported regimes killed something like a million people between 1950-1990. Then the 1990s came and the USSR collapsed, liberating Eastern Europe. Also, the US pulled back a bit from its support of the worst sort of authoritarians. So there were reasons to be hopeful during the 1990s. I'd say that on the whole, if there was an anomaly it was more the 1990s specifically than any of the time from 1950-1990. I think the world in general is still less authoritarian on average than it was between 1950-1990.
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Re:Military seizes control in Myanmar by KLexpat on Monday February 01, 2021 @02:26AM (#25986428)
>US-supported regimes killed something like a million people between 1950-1990.

They killed far more than that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_mass_killings_of_19... 1965–1966, 500k - 1m

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_Laos

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_Cambodia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_Myanmar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_squads_in_El_Salvador "The paramilitaries committed the vast majority of murders and massacres during the civil war and were heavily aligned with the United States-backed government"

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Re:Military seizes control in Myanmar by brundolf on Monday February 01, 2021 @01:16AM (#25986109)
I have a similar impression of the 90s, though I've been skeptical of it since that happened to also be my childhood
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Re:Military seizes control in Myanmar by alisonatwork on Monday February 01, 2021 @01:29AM (#25986176)
The 90s weren't great. We had wars in Yugoslavia, Chechnya, and more.

But, in general, I do have a sense it was a uniquely optimistic decade for many people in the former First World, mainly because the Cold War ended and there was a sense that we had "won". Western Europe in particular demilitarized a lot as a result, the EU was formalized, the Good Friday Agreement was signed, Oslo Accords happened, end of apartheid etc.

For Americans I think 9/11 derailed things again.

Outside of the former First World, I'm not sure they'd see the 90s the same way.

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Re:Military seizes control in Myanmar by KLexpat on Monday February 01, 2021 @05:21AM (#25987351)
It was nearly a golden age in indochina. People in countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, (South) Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, etc experienced incredible and permanent improvement in living standards

but yeah it wasn't that great anywhere south of cancun or cairo

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