@Spunt He likened the current state of Britain today to that of the Soviet Union in the 1980s, just before it collapsed - not so much in the nuts and bolts of what was happening but in the psychology of the ruling elite and the people alike.
Great write-up Spunt I'm taking it in in parts. Just to comment on this one line in your section on why Britain is collapsing.
Yes and no. Yes in the sense that the Communist party encouraged the laziest and the most amoral members of society to seek out membership so they can get power and perks. Instead of providing leadership, the Party inspired nothing but disdain and jealousy from people who had to stand in long breadlines because of decades-long economic mismanagement by said party, whose members had access to special well-stocked shops. Economic reforms of the mid 80's came too little too late. Social reforms such as Glastnost encouraged things that were probably better left suppressed, such as nationalism and separatism on the periphery.
No, because there were many other problems of distinctly Russian and Soviet nature. For a society allegedly building a classless society, the Soviet system was very good at creating new classes of people that didn't exist anywhere else in the world.
The Communist party nomenclature. As mentioned above had a negative selection bias and produced a corrupt, parasitic class that was divorced from the day-to-day of the people it was supposed to be leading. It and the geriatric second-generation Communists at its helm were the butt of jokes. No joke, there was a samizdat compilation dong the rounds called "1001 Political anecdotes." That's like 1001 memes about how your country is a corrupt shithole, I don't think we see anything like it today.
Dissidents. The university-educated elites of the country that hate their own country. And still do, Putin is genuinely popular with the masses, it's the liberal elites that hate him. They are known as "liberasts" from the word "pederast" and Europe is often referred to as "Gayropa." It think you get the point here.
Crowned thieves. An elite class of criminals with an internal code that rejects all moral values of not just Soviet society but any society. Decades of penal colonies has nurtured this menace and it's not going anywhere in a hurry. Similar to hood niggers worshipping gangsta clowns such as TuPac, many modern Russian youths emulate the outward trappings of the criminal class and aspire to prison codes of conduct - "ponyatiya." These are the track-suited
Gopniks you have all heard about.
Oligarchs. In an unholy alliance with the above, they have degraded Soviet legacy to the ruinous state that the former republics are in now. I've heard somewhere that everything that still works, flies and functions in Russia and Ukraine was made in the 1970's. Pretty close to the truth, when you think about it. What we see happening in Ukraine and earlier in Armenia and Ajzerbajan, Georgia and earlier still the Chechen wars is a direct result of the redistribution of wealth and materiel that followed the collapse of the Soviet union.
In summary, there are parallels, but it sounds like the Brits are the agents of their own distinct misfortune. Another parallel BTW, more with the USA than with Britain the age of current politicians. 10 more years and half these people won't be with us. Who's coming to take their place? Interesting times ahead.
