SOVIET AGGRESSION OR US IMPERIALISM?

[judes101]

I was recently reading about the origins of the cold war. On this subject there are two clearly defined schools of thought- one states that the USSR was to blame, and that Stalin had aggressive intensions with his expansion into Eastern Europe. The other says that he was acting defensively due to paranoia of the West, and so that he could set up a 'buffer zone',make internal improvments and repell the threat posed by the West. Was America trying to control the economies of western europe with Marshall aid, or was it a genuinely benevolent gesture?
What does anyone think about these issues?

Judes L.

[mastodon]

I think the US picked the first quibble.

When Soviet forces were slow to pull out of Iran the US raised a stink. In January of 1946 the United Sates put alot of pressure on the UN to get the Soviets out of Iran. The gesture was not taken well as you can imagine.

The United States also checked Soviet actions when it came to Crimea. In August of 1946 the Soviets wanted to append some clauses to the resolution made at the Montreux Convention at Potsdam back in 1936. The Soviets wanted administration and 'defense' of the Straits to be the responsiblity of Russia and Turkey - aspirations quite reminiscent of Catherine the Great. The proposition was flatly rejected. It appears that Stalin was testing the waters and trying to see how much ground the international community was [rather literally now that I think about it] willing to yield.

The United States and the West was just as guilty for inciting the Cold War as the Soviets were. World politics is wrought with competition. Throughout Europe's history power has shifted among the nations and the powers that be have always competed with each other on a not so direct level.

I think the Cold War was just good ole competition with the perverting influence of nuclear arsenal. The immensity of the potential destruction distinguished the Cold War from past 'competitions.'

[usamark]

i would have to disagree with you on this i mean i could see russia as a nation wanting to be assured space to feel safe from american "agression" as it might have been looked upon from the russian perspective, but when you put stalin in the equation it is clear that he was the agreesor. it is stalin as time has shown that wished to build an empire. after all it is stalin who invaded countries like finland,hungary,latvia,etc. etc. and imposed what he thought the govt of these nations should be like.the us didnt force the nations of europe to do as we said. if we wanted to we could have,but france has been a clear example that western europe didnt always do as we wanted. the difference is that when france did something we didnt like we ran our mouths on the other hand when hungary did something the soviet union didnt like they ended up with tanks on their front door. as for the marshall plan . i beleive it was a benevolent gesture.if the us had wanted to control w. europe we could have.the fact is that the us had always been an stong isolationist type country. one which didnt want to be involved in the affairs of europe.

[Peion79]

First the U.S did control W. Europe, the only exception was probably France (they withdraw from NATO in 1966, they developed their own nuclear program and arsenal despite U.S objection and pressure, and they were probably the only Western country that had a good relationship with the USSR).

And please don't give me that bull about the U.S not being agressive as the Soviet Union. Look at their policy toward Latin America. The only difference between the USSR and U.S was that the USSR would invade where the U.S would back an oppressive regime to protect its interst. Beside the U.S has been involved in more invasion and military intervention than the USSR anyway. So, whose was the real aggressor?

[judes101]

I think that both the US and the USSR probably share equal blame for the onset of the Cold War. Yes, Stalin did oppress the people's of eastern Europe, but he was justified in wanting to build up a defence against the West. The USSR had seen the Western powers turning a blind eye as Hitler grew more powerful, and was shocked by the events of Munich in 1938, and the total lack of response to the events in spain during the civil war. During the war the USSR lost 25 million men. It is not surprising that Stalin wanted a 'buffer zone'

I guess the Cambridge 5 spies from Britain were just an interesting sideshow of the Cold War. If FDR had survived to implement his plan of postwar decolonialization, though, there would have been no Vietnam War for the French or the USA. Think about it.PEACE!T.

[vorosilov]

Cold war,

In my opinion the cold war was all about to isolate communism. Mostly the Westerners were responsible for it.