All the remaining communist countries in the world fell like the U.S.S.R. in the late 80's early 90's? There are some major ones left like China, North Korea, etc. but what would happen if they fell one way or another? What kind of impact would it have on the world, if any? What kind of impact would it have on the countries, if any? I know the Cold War is over and now the War on Terror is the big thing, not communist countries but I am just wondering because I know how big the fall of the Berlin Wall and Eastern Europe was but I was just too damn young to remember any of the significant material that went on during those years. It's always interested me on what would happen if such an event happened again.
In the case of North Korea and Cuba, the people would be much better off. In the case of China, well, is China really still a true communist country? China has reformed the economy to a more free market system. I would consider China now a hard line socialist one party state. What other countries are considered communist?
You provide a perfect example of the childish conservative fearmongering and name calling that Republicans claim to be "leadership".
The wink means I'm kidding...You provide the perfect example of a finger pointer who doesn't realize three are pointing right back at him...
I'd love to be able to vacation in Cuba. It doesn't have to "fall," for an American to do that, we just need to change American policy. North Korea is run by lunatics busy slowly starving their people to death so they can fire missiles over Japan, and convince Japan to develop atomic weapons. Why they want to do that is, well, simply crazy. China is highly complex. I'll leave it at that. Am I forgetting someone? Vietnam? Who cares? Keep D&D Civil.
The Fall of North Korea would produce tens of thousands of starving people pouring over the DMZ. It would make the unification of Germany look like a weekend family reunion.
He's saying that the general populace of North Korea would be left starving and would go to South Korea looking for aid if the North's government fell apart. Think of the number of people that were forced to leave New Orleans and the burden they've put on other cities, and then multiply that by 50.
OK, I understand that a little better. Thank you. So in making that statement he is saying they are better off now than if they're government collapsed?
It is a very unbalanced country right now. Imagine walking down a country road next to a wooded area. You walk for a while enjoying the quiet and then you notice that it is WAY too quiet. This is because there are no animals in the woods. No rabbits, no squirrels, no mice, no deer, nothing. Not even birds. Why you ask? Because the people have eaten them all. My wife's uncle was there when he was a delegate. He said it made him hurt so badly for his fellow Koreans but he couldn't do anything at all to help them. The kicker is that the North Korean gov't has convinced their people that the ENTIRE WORLD is experiencing a famine. They are completely brainwashed.
North Korea is like deciding whether to pop a boil or to let itself burst. Anyways, the progress on former Soviet bloc countries is very encouraging. Some are NATO and EU candidates and in recent years, their GDP growth rate has been far greater than Old Europe's and Russia's.
So what happens when one or more citizens of that nation go to a different country and see that it is not true?
If they actually make it out, something difficult, they discover the truth. If they attempt to return and tell everyone the truth, they are killed. Number of options? Nearly zero. Keep D&D Civil.
I think a lot of this depends on how these countries fall. A sudden and violent collapse of NK or Cuba wouldn't be good because it would spawn a wave of refugees. The vast armaments of NK would likely be a boon for international crime and terrorists while a chaotic Cuba likely a center of operations of drug smuggling. Unfortunately if NK collapses it will likely be sudden and ugly. Cuba after Fidel dies could likely make a gradual transistion to multiparty democracy. The PRC can't be considered a Communist country except in the sense of one party government. I don't foresee a major sudden collapse of the CCP but think that the PRC might eventually make the transition to multiparty democracy on their own. As the middle class grows there along with greater access to information the desire to internally reform the political system will push the CCP to change.
Interesting that you mention that. One of the things the North Korean Secret Police have been cracking down on is South Korean bootleg videos. They have gone to unusual measures to catch people in the act including cutting power to peoples homes so that the police can then rush in and get the tape that has become trapped in the VCR! People that are caught watching these videos are sent to re-education camps. The other thing that you have to realize is that North Koreans CAN'T go to other countries unless they are olympic athletes or something like that so very few North Koreans ever get see life outside their own country. The few that have escaped to South Korea or China often have to hide so that North Korean spies do not either kidnap them and take them back to NK or kill them.