Chapter 105: The Invisible Smoke of Gunpowder

As future generations, the people of the leading group are well aware of the historical trend of the Soviet Union, and they also know that the present stage is the eve of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The showdown between the two world hegemons will soon be clear, and the strategic goal of the United States will soon be achieved.

In the eyes of the people of the United States, the Soviet Union is a terrible war monster, and the powerful military strength of the Soviet Union makes it difficult for the people of the United States to sleep.

At the end of World War II, Europe was divided into two major war blocs: the Warsaw Pact and NATO.

From an economic point of view, NATO is a wealthy bloc, and the Warsaw Pact countries are relatively backward.

However, at the level of war, the Soviet Union had institutional superiority, and the army could be quickly assembled and reacted quickly.

And NATO, especially the United States, is institutionally constrained.

It is not the president's decision to start a war, it requires congressional approval.

Just imagine, when the war has broken out, by the time the United States parliament discusses and passes the war bill, probably half of Europe has disappeared.

Nima, the cucumber dishes are cold.

The powerful war machine of the Soviet Union is a headache for the United States, like a sharp sword hanging over NATO's head, and I don't know when it will fall.

In the decades-long Cold War, the people of the United States racked their brains to deal with the Soviet Union, hoping to overwhelm the opponent or even defeat the opponent.

From the standpoint of the United States, the Soviet Union must fall.

Of course, the Mi people don't want to take the risk of war, that would be very uneconomical for the Mi people, they want to defeat the Soviet Union on another battlefield.

After the Brenetv era, the Soviet state began to decline.

In March 1985, Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Soviet Union, and he was faced with a turbulent world and a difficult domestic environment.

At this time, the latest strategy of the Mi people to deal with the Soviet Union is almost out.

Some people compare the Soviet Union at this time to be like a ship full of munitions, with a rusty hull, unknown direction, slow movement, and on the verge of sinking in the vast sea.

This determined that when Gorbachev was ordained, reforms were necessary to save the ship from peril fate.

However, this "captain" is very incompetent and lacks the courage and ability of a leader of a big country.

In the face of all kinds of difficulties and pressures on the Soviet Union, Gorbachev hastily responded to them, and made all kinds of mistakes and misdirections in the leadership reform, causing the whole country to lose its way.

After that, the crisis in the Soviet Union increased sharply, and order was out of control.

Gorbachev's predecessors, mainly after Brenetv came to power, promoted a large number of cronies, and a privileged class with Bronev as the core was formed in the Soviet political arena.

Embezzlement, theft, and appropriation of state property were widespread in the Soviet Union, where bribery was rife and production efficiency was low.

The second half of the Brenev era is known as the "period of stagnation" and "ossification" of the Soviet state.

At this time, the privileged class of the Soviet State was fully fledged.

According to later Russian experts' estimates, during the Brelenev period, the privileged class of the Soviet state grew to 50-700,000 people.

If their relatives are included, there are 3 million people in the privileged class of the Soviet Union, or about 1.5% of the country's population.

The privileged strata of the Soviet Union had already appropriated a great deal of the country's wealth for themselves, and at this time, presumably, they were desperate for the collapse of the ruling party and the drastic changes in the state system.

Once the Soviets fell, their wealth could be legitimized under the new system through a public change in the state system, and they could legitimately pass it on to their descendants.

The Soviet Union has conducted many public opinion polls, and public opinion polls show that only 5-20% of people are in favor of capitalism.

The largest poll conducted in May 1991 was conducted in the European part of the Soviet Union.

Of the sampled population, 10% were in favor of pre-reform socialism; 36% are in favor of more democratic socialism; 23% are in favour of Swedish-style socialism; Only 17% are in favor of free-market capitalism.

Therefore, there is no evidence in the Soviet Union that free-market capitalism is the will of the Soviet people.

And the future of the Soviet state was also discussed by the upper elite in order to determine its ideology.

Of these, 9.6 percent are in favor of communism and nationalism; 12.3% in favour of democratic socialism; 76.7% are in favor of a capitalist social form; Only 1.4 per cent took other attitudes.

This result is in stark contrast to the attitudes of the people at the grassroots level.

That is, the bulk of the people at the top are in favor of capitalism.

The elites of the Soviet state allied themselves with other groups, with a part of the underworld, the plutocracy, the urban intelligentsia and formed a force.

The alliance they formed eventually seized power and established capitalism.

Economically, the Soviet Union's economic structure was seriously unbalanced, heavy industry, especially the national defense industry, was developed unilaterally, income distribution was egalitarian for a long time, and the improvement of the people's living standards was very slow.

The industrial development of the Soviet Union was uneven, and the military, heavy industry, chemical industry, and aerospace industry, which were related to national defense, were very developed, and their level was in a leading position in the world.

However, light industry and agriculture, which are related to people's livelihood, are relatively backward.

That is to say, during the Cold War, the focus of the Soviet Union was on war, which was what the people of the United States were most worried about.

The monolithic economic structure and the disregard for the people's demand for a high quality of life may also be one of the reasons for the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

In addition to domestic reasons, the collapse of the Soviet Union also marked the final victory of the United States strategy against the Soviet Union.

The arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union caused the state to invest too much of its financial resources in the national defense and military budgets, which aggravated the imbalance in the national economy.

In particular, during the Brenetv period, he used all his troops to launch a war of aggression against Afghanistan, which caused a sharp increase in national defense and military expenditures and the accumulation of various contradictions in the country.

Over the course of several decades, the Soviet Union expanded its armaments and waged an arms race with the United States, which caused the state to invest too much of its financial resources in the national defense and military budgets, which undoubtedly aggravated the imbalance in the national economy.

In the course of several decades, the Soviet Union spent $700 billion on confrontation with the West, $200 billion on confrontation with the Northern Continent, and about $10 billion on other military expenditures, which seriously depleted and weakened the national strength of the Soviet Union and became one of the reasons for the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

Gorbachev wanted to reform the Soviet Union, sought to ease relations with the Western world, and hoped to gain Western support.

His successor, Ye Chin, spared no effort to turn to the West for support, and the Western world did promise support from the Soviet Union.

In 1992, the G-7 summit decided to aid Russia with $24 billion.

In 1993, the G-7 meeting of foreign ministers and finance ministers pledged $32.57 billion in aid to Russia.

And when the Soviet Union really fell into the quagmire, all the aid promised by the United States before also fell through.

Because the United States has adopted the attitude of "you don't need to give more bait to the fish that are hooked", the thunder is loud and the rain is small, and the lip service is not enough.

The United States' insistence on trade restrictions with Russia has also prevented Russia from joining the international economic system on an equal footing.

War does not necessarily have to be performed on the battlefield, nor does it have to be filled with gunsmoke, this strategy planned by the elite of the United States ended perfectly, I have to say that the strategy of the United States people is superb.