Tensions between Russia and America are at the lowest point since the fall of the Berlin Wall in the nineties and British Foreign Secretary David Milliband has said that Russia has a "responsibility" not to start a new Cold War although the Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said his country is unafraid of a new Cold War and the Russian media seem to be actively encouraging it with one newspaper running the headline 'Tak You!' above an image of a fist with its middle finger raised.The last Cold War ran from the 1940's to the 1990's and although the downside was the threat of the destruction of the World, the competitive nature of the Cold War quickly fueled the creation of important inventions we use today so it wasn't all bad.
Use a Microwave Oven at all today? You can thank the Cold War for that invention as also the computer that you are reading this on and the Internet that the computer is plugged into. Hang gliders, the television signals beamed from across the Globe to our TV set in the front room, smoke detectors and the Sat Nav in our cars are all Cold War Inventions.
Apart from the inventions and some fantastic Soviet propaganda posters, there were a few great songs like Two Tribes by Frankie Goes To Hollywood and London Calling by The Clash although they were far outweighed by the stinkers like Nena's 99 red balloons, Final Countdown by Europe, Land of Confusion by Phil Collins, and the terrible Through The Barricades by Spandau Ballet.
If we are going to enter another Cold War, could we have a higher quality of song please and keep Phil Collins and Spandau Ballet away from a recording studio.
13 comments:
This post a.k.a. the NASA justification.
"the competitive nature of the Cold War quickly fueled the creation of important inventions we use today"
Be still my heart, did my favorite Leftist, the one who famously exclaimed "Economics and I go together like a Frenchman and soap" discover the inherent value of competition in a capitalistic system?
I feel like my child has grown up, "sniff"
Next thing you know, you'll describe yourself as a monetarist, and be trading in your torn copy of Das Kapital for Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman
The combined efforts of NASA and the Soviet Space program, both contained many silver linings.
Wasn't it competition between a Capitalistic and a Socialist system that fueled the creation of ..etc etc? Your capitalism and my Socialism, a joint effort that resulted in you being able to cook a jacket potato in under 8 minutes and me to use my sat nav to find Phil Collins house and graffiti on his front door.
That would have been a nice trip, Lucy... i.e. the useless hypocritical tosser lives in Switzerland, safely esconced as a tax exile.
As Noel Gallagher so sagely remarks: "Vote Labour. If you don’t and the Tories get in, Phil is threatening to come back from Switzerland and live here - and none of us want that."
http://www.toryscum.com/2005/04/14/celebra-tories-phil-collins/
That's right, didn't he tell his wife his was divorcing her by fax and ran off to Switzerland with some teenage girl or something along those lines.
And he is a Tory voter. And a perveyor of annoyingly naff songs. And a tax exile. How is it possible to cram as much tosserness into one human being!
"...the inherent value of competition..."
Yeah! America is trying to control the world and Russia is objecting. Such competition could lead to nuclear war. Wow! Gee! Wonderful!
You'd certainly get plenty of bang for your capitalist buck there, Cody!
My God, you truly are the proverbial bad penny that just won't go away. Listen David, I'm just wondering, why does every comment you make have the word America in it. "The lady doth protest too much, methinks."
Lucy, if I may, a few points.
1. Competition for better or worse(as Daniel thinks)is an inherent aspect of Capitalism. Communism is supposed to replace competition with cooperation (which will NEVER happen).
2. From which side of the ideological spectrum did these wonderful products and artistic achievements come from? I do seem to remember some lame Soviet rock band, but I think they might have been sent to the Gulag for sucking. We (the West, calm down Daniel)took weapons science and made consumer products, can you even stand it? How fun is that?
In regards to Phil Collins, I wouldn't mind a trip to the Gulag for him (and Daniel) as well, but if I may inject a note of realism
1. Running away with a hot teenager. Umm, isn't that what rock stars are supposed to do? Especially middle aged ones. .
Look at it from the perspective of his wife, she got half, and doesn't have to see, listen, or live with Phil. Nicely done I say.
2. Tax exile. Realistically, if I feel that I am being taxed unfairly, and I could go live somewhere else, why wouldn't I? People and Capital go to where they are best treated. Can't blame the man for that one either. This is an argument for lowering rates. Part of something is always better than all of nothing.
3. "a perveyor of annoyingly naff songs". I'm not sure how to translate that, but if it means he sucks, then count me in.
Cody 1 - I was using competition in the 'our ideology is better than yours, look at what we can do' sense.
2. I can't remember any Soviet bands probably because they did suck or Stalin shot them all. The satellite technology, space/planet exploration and was the work of the Soviets. You can thank Sputnik for your cars Sat Nav and being able to watch the Olympics this summer. Mr Khrushchev say's you are welcome and he has a spare copy of Das Kapital if you are interested.
1(ii) Phil Collins. Grrrr.....
Is the Two Tribes song and the accompanying famous record sleeve i used in the picture known outside of the UK?
Phil Collins is a Tory voter? Then why did he write Land of Confusion? Hmm.
"Tax exile. Realistically, if I feel that I am being taxed unfairly, and I could go live somewhere else, why wouldn't I?"
That's not really the nub of the charge against Phil though, Cody. Rather, it's the fact that he writes (miserable) songs pretending that he gives a flying f*ck about the poor and the disadvantaged ('Land of Confusion' being but one example), while at the same time (a) not giving any of his stupendous wealth back to society in Britain, and (b) making statements indicating that Britain's most prolific manufacturer of the disadvantaged, one Margaret Hilda Thatcher, was a top lady and that Britain would be better off with the Tories back in charge.
The Rolling Stones are tax exiles, only they don't pretend they give a damn. Good on them. That's fine.
See, you can't have it both ways, Phil... you chrome-domed freak. Or rather, you can, if you're a hypocrite.
"It's no fun being an illegal alien" eh?
Yeah Phil, except I don't think you're exactly illegal are you mate? I think the Swiss authorities took one look at your declaration of assets and said 'Welcome to Switzerland, sir'...
Then there's 'Another Day in Paradise', bemoaning the homeless in London. Yes Phil, well, if you paid your taxes in this country (with over £100 million to your name, you may not miss it) then we might be able to afford more shelters for them.
And actually dude, you won't have noticed cos you've 'been away', but the homeless problem in London is now waaaaaaaay better now that the Labour Party is in power. You know, they're the party who have actually done something for less-well-off, as opposed to just piss and and bleat and moan about it. In song.
And the fact that the music that accompanies this crock of insincere shite makes you want to garrote someone with a length of hosepipe merely compounds the sin.
In conclusion then!... Those are the main charges against our Philip. Although I'm sure I can think of others...
I'm not a fan ;-)
(deep breath!)
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