Crushing the Prague Spring: Then and Now

Tidewater

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Monday will be the 50th anniversary of the Soviet Crushing of the Prague Spring.
In 1956, Hungary rose up against Soviet oppression and tried to establish a multi-party liberal democracy. The Soviets crushed it because the Communist party was to be the only party allowed.
In 1968, the Czechoslovaks rose up, and agreed that the Communist party would be the only party, but they wanted to "put a human face on it." Apparently humanity is deeply offensive to the Soviets, so they sent the tanks in again.

'A Terrible Panic': Czech Photographer 'Haunted' By 1968 Invasion

Invasion: The Crushing of the Prague Spring, Then and Now.

I hope old people remember and young people today realize just how evil the Soviet empire was.
 

Its On A Slab

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Monday will be the 50th anniversary of the Soviet Crushing of the Prague Spring.
In 1956, Hungary rose up against Soviet oppression and tried to establish a multi-party liberal democracy. The Soviets crushed it because the Communist party was to be the only party allowed.
In 1968, the Czechoslovaks rose up, and agreed that the Communist party would be the only party, but they wanted to "put a human face on it." Apparently humanity is deeply offensive to the Soviets, so they sent the tanks in again.

'A Terrible Panic': Czech Photographer 'Haunted' By 1968 Invasion

Invasion: The Crushing of the Prague Spring, Then and Now.

I hope old people remember and young people today realize just how evil the Soviet empire was.
We had a couple from Belarus living across the street from us in Omaha. They immigrated after the collapse of the Soviet Union. I could spend hours talking to the guy. He served in the Soviet military, driving a tank. Talked about live-fire drills, freezing his rear-end off in the cold Russian Winters, working for years just to finally get a spare one bedroom apartment. How much he appreciated his 3 bedroom 'burb spread, nice lawn, a good job in I.T. in Omaha.

His wife. Uh, wasn't quite as impressed with the US system. "In Russia, EVERYTHING was free!" Sam would look at her like she was from Mars.

He did have a kind of unrealistic view of the comparisons between US and Russian fighter jets. I kept telling him, it doesn't matter if that Sukhoi or Mig is a faster jet, our fighter jets have better pilots, avionics, radar, and armaments. We'd still shoot your planes down. ;)
 
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GrayTide

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Thanks for posting TW. I remember seeing this on the news, but Vietnam, the Democrat Convention in Chicago and the violence overshadowed things going on in Prague as best as I can remember.
 

TIDE-HSV

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Monday will be the 50th anniversary of the Soviet Crushing of the Prague Spring.
In 1956, Hungary rose up against Soviet oppression and tried to establish a multi-party liberal democracy. The Soviets crushed it because the Communist party was to be the only party allowed.
In 1968, the Czechoslovaks rose up, and agreed that the Communist party would be the only party, but they wanted to "put a human face on it." Apparently humanity is deeply offensive to the Soviets, so they sent the tanks in again.

'A Terrible Panic': Czech Photographer 'Haunted' By 1968 Invasion

Invasion: The Crushing of the Prague Spring, Then and Now.

I hope old people remember and young people today realize just how evil the Soviet empire was.
The Soviet Union was a direct outgrowth of Russia and the Russian Weltanschauung, just as today's Russia and Putin are...
 

Tidewater

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The Soviet Union was a direct outgrowth of Russia and the Russian Weltanschauung, just as today's Russia and Putin are...
Continuity and change.
Russian acceptance of political oppression is a constant (at least since the Mongol conquest). I have come to the conclusion that reforming that culture is a fool's errand. The Russians do not want to reform their society.

On the other hand, Stalin escaped from prison five times, which means that they arrested him five times (seven actually), so the level of oppression between the Czarist Okhrana and Lenin's Cheka and Stalin's NKVD was completely different.
The tsars oppressed millions, imprisoned hundreds of thousands.
Stalin's henchmen murdered millions and brutally oppressed tens of millions.
The FSB murders many, especially Putin critics. The Russians have a list of people not allowed to leave the country, and it is growing.
The oppression today is not as bad as the tsars and not really in the same neighborhood of Stalin.
One troubling thing, though, more than half of today's Russians say neither side of the August 1991 Putsch was right. Only six percent of respondents say that the defeat of the putsch was a victory for a democratic revolution. That's scary.
 

TIDE-HSV

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Continuity and change.
Russian acceptance of political oppression is a constant (at least since the Mongol conquest). I have come to the conclusion that reforming that culture is a fool's errand. The Russians do not want to reform their society.

On the other hand, Stalin escaped from prison five times, which means that they arrested him five times (seven actually), so the level of oppression between the Czarist Okhrana and Lenin's Cheka and Stalin's NKVD was completely different.
The tsars oppressed millions, imprisoned hundreds of thousands.
Stalin's henchmen murdered millions and brutally oppressed tens of millions.
The FSB murders many, especially Putin critics. The Russians have a list of people not allowed to leave the country, and it is growing.
The oppression today is not as bad as the tsars and not really in the same neighborhood of Stalin.
One troubling thing, though, more than half of today's Russians say neither side of the August 1991 Putsch was right. Only six percent of respondents say that the defeat of the putsch was a victory for a democratic revolution. That's scary.
I can't blame them...
 

Tidewater

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I can't blame them...
P. J. O'Rourke once addressed the topic of strangers polling.
“Hello, Mr. Peasant, I’m an inquisitive and frightening stranger. God knows who I work for. Would you care to ostensibly support the dictatorship which controls every facet of your existence, or shall we put you down as in favor of the opposition?”
I believe the Levada Center protects the identity of the subjects, but I wouldn't swear to it.
 

TIDE-HSV

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P. J. O'Rourke once addressed the topic of strangers polling.

I believe the Levada Center protects the identity of the subjects, but I wouldn't swear to it.
I wouldn't rely on it either. Also, I think all of the AV companies named have some sort of firewall or they couldn't do business with the US government. OTOH, I would never trust Kaspersky on any machine of mine...
 

Tidewater

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I wouldn't rely on it either. Also, I think all of the AV companies named have some sort of firewall or they couldn't do business with the US government. OTOH, I would never trust Kaspersky on any machine of mine...
I was listening to a podcast and the guest mentioned that lots of U.S. companies have chosen the path of least resistance and given the Russians their code, so they can operate inside the Russian Federation.
The scary implication is that now the Russians may have a back door to whatever computers in the West are using those products. Now, this is probably a one-shot weapon, and you should hold onto it until it will be the most effective, but man, the idea of every computer using Symantec going haywire at the same time (say, when we are facing the Russians off over an attack on a NATO member like Estonia) scares the stuffing out of me.
 

TIDE-HSV

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I was listening to a podcast and the guest mentioned that lots of U.S. companies have chosen the path of least resistance and given the Russians their code, so they can operate inside the Russian Federation.
The scary implication is that now the Russians may have a back door to whatever computers in the West are using those products. Now, this is probably a one-shot weapon, and you should hold onto it until it will be the most effective, but man, the idea of every computer using Symantec going haywire at the same time (say, when we are facing the Russians off over an attack on a NATO member like Estonia) scares the stuffing out of me.
FWIW, Symantec ceased allowing government review back at the beginning of 2016. If they took that action, I'd think they slammed the door on anything exploitable before then. Their action would seem to be prescient, in regards to what's happened since then. IDK about the other companies...
 

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