Do Americans Really Want to ‘Keep Russia on its Knees?’
March 27th, 2008 by WILLIAM KERN
Is the United States imagining a world in which Russia poses a threat, or is it actually a threat? Mikhail Taratuta, the former host of a Russian television show about America writes for Russia’s Kommersant newspaper, ‘Sociologists, psychologists and psychiatrists make reference to a notion called a “second reality.” This isn’t reality itself, but rather a person’s perception of reality. … When we hear that the real objective of America and the West is to pull Russia down and keep it on its knees, how should we interpret this? Is it a cynical lie put forward for some sinister political purpose - perhaps to mobilize society to create the image of an enemy? Or are these the sincere words of people living in a “second reality,” where we already visited once upon a time?
By Mikhail Taratuta*
Translated By Igor Medvedev
March 24, 2008
Kommersant - Russia - Original Article (Russian)
Sociologists, psychologists and psychiatrists make reference to a notion called a “second reality.” This isn’t reality itself, but rather a person’s perception of reality. Thirty years ago when I first went to America, I was confident that I would find all the signs of a decaying West as detailed in the Soviet press - unemployment, the suffering of working people, and so on. Although this “second reality” had nothing to do with what I saw with my own eyes, the Soviet-invented reality still seemed real enough. It probably couldn’t be any other way. The Soviet people knew beyond doubt that Aeroflot was a great airline; that we had the best cement and building materials in the world; and that America was our enemy.
Indeed, we were American’s enemy. Christened the “Evil Empire,” Ronald Reagan considered the USSR a human swamp, swallowing up our own people and everybody else’s. In America in those days, they were terribly afraid of us; they expected the worst from us and were building bomb shelters across the country, along with setting up forests of missiles.
America, meanwhile - President Reagan included - was also captive to a “second reality.” Reagan believed in the idea of “Star Wars” and boasted of his brainchild, convinced that thanks to the unbending will of the Soviet Union, the USSR would be pushed to the point of no return. But reality proved entirely different. The Soviet Union was pulled down under its own weight - not through the efforts of President Reagan. His trillions of cosmic defense dollars ended up shooting blanks.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing translated foreign press coverage of the United States.
This entry was posted on Thursday, March 27th, 2008 at 7:29 am and is filed under Cold War, Cartoons, Ronald Reagan, Capitalism, Arms, Psychology, Communism, Cartoon Commentary, Foreign Affairs, Russia, Foreign Politics, Nuclear Weapons, History. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
