Few people question the fact that today’s United States has entered the historic cycle of imperial decline.
Photo: REUTERS
The incessant passion for the Chinese “peace probe”, shot down by the Americans after several days of helplessly watching its flight over secret US bases, vividly recalled the shock caused in the USSR by the May 1987 landing on Red Square. of -Cessna engine. Who missed? How was this made possible? Where were the generals looking? Where was our air defense?
Questions to which the authorities did not have a clear answer led to the resignation of Defense Minister Marshal Sokolov. But the harsh organizational conclusions could not extinguish the wave of strongest emotions – from burning shame at the impotence of the military, anger at the impotence of the country’s leaders to malicious glee of opponents of the “regime”, who saw in the event a sign of the decay of the system. That incident really undermined the foundation of the system, and four years later it was completely gone.
By the way, the definition of “impotent” thrown by the US congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green to the Biden administration, no matter how inclined to perceive it in a sexual context, refers precisely to the political impotence of the US authorities. The forty versions that arose after the heroic destruction of the Chinese “ball” – why it flew so deep and was not immediately shot down – only mask the problem and do not explain it. And they confirm it: the system has given a serious failure.
Comparing these two cases may seem like an exaggeration. But even the ancients said that any comparison is pathetic. In this case, what is important is not the accuracy of the coincidences in the events, but their significance for the authority of the system in the perception within the country and abroad. And here, you see, everything “cuts”.
Few people question the fact that today’s United States has entered the historic cycle of imperial decline. This is especially obvious to those who witnessed the decline of the USSR, saw where and how its strength decreased and weakness came. A year and a half ago, the president of Russia, referring precisely to the fact that he sees the problem as a citizen of the former Soviet Union, commented: “The United States with a safe step, a sure step, a firm step is walking straight on the path of the Union Soviet”. After the epic with the “ball”, it is difficult to resist trying to compare at least briefly the path we traveled at the end of the 20th century and the one that the Americans undertook in the first quarter of the 21st. The impression is sometimes just this: they follow the trail…
Just a short enumeration, without detailing: everything has been happening in recent years before our eyes, so those interested need not chew.
Gerontocracy. Bitter, and sometimes caustic, humor about decrepit Soviet leaders and their physical and mental weakness. An anecdote from the time of the elderly General Secretary Chernenko: “You know, Chernenko was shot. – It just can’t be! – Yes, yes, they shot at point blank range. Emphasis and fell… “Well, why not Biden, counting the plane stairs with his sides?
Afghanistan. In 1988, Soviet troops left this country after spending eight years there. But the moral and psychological trauma inflicted on Soviet society by the Afghan war played a role in the degradation of the sociopolitical system. A year and a half ago, the Americans fled Kabul after twenty years of de facto occupation of the country. We will not even compare two events, we just record: it happened!
internal division of society. Remember the Bible: “A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.” We saw this for ourselves during the collapse of the Soviet Union. Thank God, we managed to avoid a fatal split in Russia. Although the attempts, and the most persistent, there were and still are. In America, as the Americans themselves admit, society is divided almost down the middle. The last two presidential election cycles there have shown the depth and severity of the gap, which shows no sign of bridging. And polls show that a significant part of young people believe that a new civil war will occur in their memory and the country will collapse.
Intolerance. We are also very familiar with “perestroika” and the years after it. The current wave of internal hostility in the United States and the new “witch hunt” openly unleashed in the same place testify that the building of national harmony, which has always been considered the strong point of the United States, is in full swing.
Review of history, destruction of monuments. In this part, at the turn of the century, we were definitely ahead of the rest. And now, if we do not take into account what is happening in Ukraine, because in fact there is a special case, it is the Americans who are trying to shake up their own history and that of other peoples, to change the poles of “good and evil” historical. “, demolish all monuments to the “wrong figures” and severely punish, up to “cancellation”, apostates and dissidents. It is true that in recent times this process has slightly died out on the other side of the ocean, but it is burning slowly until “better times”.
Historical arrogance and self-confidence. “The Marxist-Leninist teaching is invincible because it is true!” That’s right, period, what more proof is needed while the party is at the helm? Compare: “I think America is exceptional,” said President Obama. And this is Trump: “We are the most outstanding nation in history!” Now Biden: “We are the most unique country in the world.” Convinced?
You can continue to string such “beads” on the hegemon’s necklace. If you wish, we will find many other imperial “birthmarks” that are reborn into a deadly disease. This process is not fast, but, as one of our General Secretaries used to say, it has already begun … And it is better than on the Soviet poster with the pointing hand of the leader of the world proletariat, one cannot say here: “They are in the right path, comrades!”
