[DammitJim]

Originally Posted by Zardoz

I was very happy the cold war ended with no bloodshed.

not exactly. people did die.

[Scribbler]

Originally Posted by horatio

Indeed. As far as I know, the Chinese have done far less horrible things in their history than most of the Western nations have in the last two centuries.
Let them progress on their pace, no need to push them.
The Russians have adopted out political and economic mainstream ideas and look where they are now. Fast forwarding to a free market system means cleptocracy and when they run out of natural resources, any wealth they have will vanish while the Chinese economic posperity and growth is sustainable.

The collective madness under Mao Zedong was pretty nasty (and not long ago).

[Zardoz]

Originally Posted by DammitJim

not exactly. people did die.

True, but what I meant was that there was no "hot" war....

[admiralroot]

Originally Posted by Zardoz

True, but what I meant was that there was no "hot" war....

Thank goodness, but if you are interested in a possible scenario in that the cold war got hot on Nov. 9, 1989(the day the berlin wall fell), check out the game World in Conflict.

[Zardoz]

Originally Posted by admiralroot

Thank goodness, but if you are interested in a possible scenario in that the cold war got hot on Nov. 9, 1989(the day the berlin wall fell), check out the game World in Conflict.

No thanks I grew up hearing all about them....

[MonsieurHood]

How many of you have been there? We anchored in Hong Kong harbor once back in my Navy days, and I got liberty in Hong Kong and Kowloon. I never met a more polite bunch of people. They laughed with me, and not at me. Always smiling and positive everywhere I went and bent over backwards to assist me with directions and service whenever I needed anything. It's the one country I visited where I really had nothing but a good time. I felt like a welcome guest the whole time. The food and entertainment was excellent. If it hadn't been for those nosy,bothersome New Zealanders, I would have had an absolutely perfect liberty there.

[horatio]

Originally Posted by Scribbler

The collective madness under Mao Zedong was pretty nasty (and not long ago).

I don't claim that the communist experiment was nice, Hitler, Stalin and Mao were the butchers of the last century, but the Chinese have tried out free market ideas much earlier than the Russians. To say it with Deng Xiaoping: "I don't care if it's a white cat or a black cat, it's a good cat so long as it catches mice."
Thumbs up for their economic pragmatism, what ideological economic thinking of the Western World has caused should be pretty clear to everyone right now.

[jerhanner]

In Beijing we saw a poster of Stalin and Mao sitting next to a Christmas tree handing out presents to kids. We couldn't buy one cause they were sold out! D'oh! I got one of Mao on a tractor instead.

[FanWriter45]

Originally Posted by jerhanner

The oddest thing happened to me in Tianamen Square in the mid 80's... I was taking pictures of the Mao photo over the gate and this Chinese guy walks up to me. He points at the camera and then to himself over and over and over. I tried to use sign language to show that it wasn't a Polaroid and I wouldn't be able to give him a copy. Finally I took his picture with the Mao painting in the background. He shook my hand and walked away.
For the life of me I still can't figure it out.

Maybe he just wanted to pose with the monster... for a sense of scale?

[Zardoz]

Well, we can be happy that these are now part of the past, and should be left there.