One factor among many. * To your point, yes, their people got a glimpse of the lifestyle on the other side of the iron curtain and realized they drew the short straw. * They bankrupted themselves trying to keep up military, industrial, and scientific parity with the west * Endemic corruption * Unpopular military adventures, especially in Afghanistan.
With all of the above there was general disillusionment with their soviet/communist venture. A soviet era joke: “My friend said General Secretary Gorbachev was an idiot. He was sentenced to 2 years hard labor for spreading anti-government propaganda, and 10 years for revealing state secrets.” From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com> On Behalf Of ch...@go-mtc.com Sent: Wednesday, September 04, 2024 2:11 PM To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <af@af.afmug.com> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] War Games I have always said the microwave oven and color TV defused communism. If the whole world is addicted to consumer goods, why upset that apple cart? From: Shayne Lebrun Sent: Wednesday, September 4, 2024 11:55 AM To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group Subject: Re: [AFMUG] War Games Yeah, the problem is if somebody can be disarmed, they can be rearmed, and you really can’t erase knowledge of fundamental physics. And at the end of the day, somebody wants something that somebody else also wants, and wants it badly enough to reach for a big stick, for relative values of ‘big.’ It’s a problem when your ‘big stick’ is a five foot flint-tipped spear. It’s an even bigger problem when your ‘big stick’ is an arsenal of fusion bombs. Shayne Lebrun Senior Systems Analyst Support: supp...@lakelandnetworks.com <mailto:supp...@lakelandnetworks.com> 705-640-0556 | TF: 844-444-4249 Direct: sleb...@lakelandnetworks.com <mailto:sleb...@lakelandnetworks.com> 705-646-1846 x583 | <http://www.lakelandnetworks.com/> https://www.lakelandnetworks.com/faqs/ <http://www.lakelandnetworks.com/> Lakeland Networks From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com <mailto:af-boun...@af.afmug.com> > On Behalf Of Ken Hohhof Sent: Wednesday, September 4, 2024 9:47 AM To: 'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group' <af@af.afmug.com <mailto:af@af.afmug.com> > Subject: Re: [AFMUG] War Games ' EXTERNAL Email Disclaimer CAUTION: This email originated from outside the organization. Exercise caution when clicking on links or opening attachments even if you recognize the sender. Ironic that the acronym for Mutual Assured Destruction is MAD. The problem of course is you can’t get the genie back in the bottle. What do you do once people possess the ability to destroy civilization? Some people advocate unilateral disarmament, but that seems naïve. Maybe like the Terminator movies you have to go back in time and try to change history. Some argue that nuclear weapons weren’t really necessary to end WWII. Others argue that if the Manhattan Project had been stopped, Germany and Russia and other nations would have invented nuclear weapons anyway, and in fact were on track to do so. A pessimist would conclude that humans are fundamentally flawed and destined to destroy themselves and everything else, it’s just a matter of when. Cue the final scene of Planet of the Apes? From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com <mailto:af-boun...@af.afmug.com> > On Behalf Of Shayne Lebrun Sent: Wednesday, September 4, 2024 8:35 AM To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <af@af.afmug.com <mailto:af@af.afmug.com> > Subject: Re: [AFMUG] War Games Even now, “A strange game. The only winning move is not to play” is a line I use often. It applies to so many situations in life. Shayne Lebrun Senior Systems Analyst Support: supp...@lakelandnetworks.com <mailto:supp...@lakelandnetworks.com> 705-640-0556 | TF: 844-444-4249 Direct: sleb...@lakelandnetworks.com <mailto:sleb...@lakelandnetworks.com> 705-646-1846 x583 | <http://www.lakelandnetworks.com/> https://www.lakelandnetworks.com/faqs/ <http://www.lakelandnetworks.com/> Lakeland Networks From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com <mailto:af-boun...@af.afmug.com> > On Behalf Of Rex McGuire Sent: Monday, September 2, 2024 12:19 PM To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <af@af.afmug.com <mailto:af@af.afmug.com> > Subject: Re: [AFMUG] War Games ' EXTERNAL Email Disclaimer CAUTION: This email originated from outside the organization. Exercise caution when clicking on links or opening attachments even if you recognize the sender. WOPR - War Operation Planned Response If I remember correctly. Shall we play a game? On Sun, Sep 1, 2024 at 9:13 AM Bill Prince <part15...@gmail.com <mailto:part15...@gmail.com> > wrote: I remember the name of the computer: WOPR. -- bp part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com On Sat, Aug 31, 2024 at 2:46 PM Ken Hohhof <khoh...@kwom.com <mailto:khoh...@kwom.com> > wrote: Some here must remember that movie, right? Can you believe it’s from 41 years ago? I was reminded of it when I saw this comic recently. Oh, and discussing guest actors on OMITB the name Matthew Broderick came up and then Ferris Bueller and then War Games. -- AF mailing list AF@af.afmug.com <mailto:AF@af.afmug.com> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list AF@af.afmug.com <mailto:AF@af.afmug.com> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com _____ -- AF mailing list AF@af.afmug.com <mailto:AF@af.afmug.com> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
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