The USA and USSR are one
Evgenia and I were talking a bit and I was taking some notes for our event tonight in NYC and I ended up typing up a very basic outline of something we’ve been thinking about lately — the connection between the USA and the USSR.
Americans think they won the Cold War, and that they defeated communism. That’s true. But it’s not clear that Americans have come out as on top of that conflict as they were led to believe. See the truth is that the USA and the USSR were connected — and the USSR and its people propped up America in ways that Americans did not understand.1 Now that the USSR has been replaced by a pre-revolutionary Russian society, both the former USSR and the USA have going through similar reversions to the 19th century. The processes are linked…they’re mutually reinforcing.
That’s why Evgenia keeps talking about how she and other Russians and really all former Soviet people are from America’s future. They’ve been going through this reversion process for more than thirty years now — a process that America is just starting go through now. Maybe Americans will one day realize what they lost and debt they owed to Soviet people.
In fighting the USSR, Americans were told they were going up against their mortal enemy. But turned out Americans were warring against the only thing that was keeping their modern quasi-socialist state afloat. In defeating the USSR, Americans defeated their greatest friend and ally. And only now is this becoming clear.
Here the outline:
—Yasha
PS: For all who can make it, see you tonite at the KGB Bar.
"Americans think they won the Cold War, and that they defeated communism. That’s true."
Nope. Big difference between defeating a state and "defeating" an ideology (or, in this particular case, a caricature of an ideology). The spectre of communism is still abroad (though much diminished at the moment).
"she and other Russians and really all former Soviet people are from America’s future"
Sort of. I'd say they're more like little Ghosts-of-Christmas-Yet-to-Come: there to warn workers of What-Might-Be:
"Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point," said Scrooge, "answer me one question. Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that May be, only?"
Still, the Ghost pointed downward to the grave by which it stood.
"Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead," said Scrooge. "But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me."
The Spirit was immovable as ever.
What do you think of this (from Adam Kotsko)?
https://itself.blog/2025/04/12/trump-as-the-american-gorbachev/
[...]
Similarly, the attempted reform of the Soviet economy took on a DOGE-like “move fast and break things” tone, as the few people who still had some idea how the planning system worked were sidelined and the functioning systems were gummed up. The attempt to make the constituent republics “real” again also had the effect of severely disrupting supply chains, similar to Trump’s antics. Contrary to the hagiography by which Gorbachev wisely oversaw the inevitable dissolution of the Soviet Union, the events of his rule were chaotic and unpredictable to almost everyone involved, due to the unique combination of naivety and recklessness he brought to the table.
In summary, both were aspiring revolutionary dictators, aiming to revive an idealized heroic national past, and both relentlessly destroyed the state capacity necessary to carry out their stated goals. Both responded to economic discontent by heedlessly making things even worse. Both abandoned allies and cozied up to long-time enemies who did not actually have their nation’s interests at heart.
[...]