From Lenin’s Communism (which didn’t work); problems with Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, and Andropov, the Cold War; Chernobyl (the worst nuclear reactor disaster in history); and the present seemingly black-mail over gas and oil; indicates that Russia is comfortable with unrealistic actions and refusal to work with other nations to make earth a better place to live.
High school classes in economics teach that communism is an ineffective form of government that fails because it kills the initiative of the people. In Russia it appears that being a supper power is far more important than caring for its citizens. To the Russian government a slogan ‘world peace’ is less important than the slogan ‘down with America and the West’.
Vladimir Lenin was the first Premier of the Soviet Union (1917). Joseph Stalin became General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party in 1922 and his policies and leadership were based on Marxist-Leninist ideology. He transformed Russia from a nation based on agriculture to a global superpower. Some write that Stalin was indirectly or directly responsible for the death of millions of Russians.
Nikita Khrushchev’s leadership (1953-1964) established the Warsaw Pact to counter the perceived threat from NATO. He led the Soviet space program that launched Sputnik 1. He played a large role in deployment of missiles in Cuba, causing the Cuban missile crisis. He then insured the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961.
In 1964 Leonid Brezhnev moved into power. He supported the North Vietnamese in the Vietnam War. He legitimized domination over Eastern and Central Europe with the signing of the Helsinki Act in 1975. He saw Russia reach the peak of its strategic and world power with the signing of the SALT 1 treaty.
In 1982 Yuri Andropov became General Secretary of the Communist russia Ukraine war Party. His rule saw the weakening of relations with the United States, which worsened when Soviet fighters downed a civilian jet liner.
It seems that historically Russia has placed more importance on being a supper power than caring for its own people and getting along with the rest of the world. It was reported that when the Russian K-141 nuclear attack submarine Krusk sank in August 2000, President Putin apparently confronted President Clinton with a threat of firing nuclear missiles at America. Clinton is reported defusing the incident by cancelling a multi-billon dollar debt owed by Russia.
Chernobyl: (the abandoned city). In the town of Pripyat, 16 km from Chernobyl is located the Chernobyl nuclear power station, which is the site of the worst nuclear reactor disaster in world history. An ignorant unauthorized test of one of the plant’s four reactors, obviously by unqualified persons, resulted in an uncontrolled chain reaction in the core of the reactor. Emergency backup systems were disabled.