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#coldwar

9 posts9 participants1 post today

Today in Labor History July 9, 1947: The Greek government ordered the arrest of 11,500 people on charges of plotting a Communist revolution. It occurred during the Greek Civil War (1943-1949), between Royalists (supported by the UK and US) and various Communist factions (supported by Yugoslavia and the USSR). It was the first US proxy war against Russia during the Cold War. Well over 200,000 people died and over 1 million were displaced. Nearly 80 years later, the U.S. continues its attempts to usurp Russia’s regional hegemony through another proxy war. This war has a similar number of deaths and refugees, but in only one-third the amount of time. And this time, both nations possess nuclear arsenals large enough to destroy the planet several times over.

Today in Writing History July 7, 1907: Robert Heinlein was born. Heinlein was a pioneer of “hard” science fiction, which emphasized scientific accuracy in science fiction stories. He was considered one of the big 3, along with Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. Some of his best-known works include “Starship Troopers,” “Stranger in a Strange Land,” and “The Moon is a Hard Mistress.” He often used technological advances to explore provocative political and social issues, and to speculate how they might affect the future. The social commentary in the fiction of H.G. Wells and Upton Sinclair influenced him. He believed that some form of socialism was inevitable and that some aspects of it were already developing in the U.S. However, in his later years he became very conservative. He became a member of the Citizen's Advisory Council on National Space Policy, which made policy recommendations that were later transformed into Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, or Star Wars.

#sciencefiction #scifi #author #writer #novel #books #heinlein #asimov #arthurcclarke #socialism #fiction #starwars #reagan #coldwar @bookstadon

Continued thread

In opening remarks to the summit, #Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva drew a parallel w/the #ColdWar's #NonAlignedMovement, a group of developing nations that resisted joining either side of a polarized global order.

"#BRICS is the heir to the Non-Aligned Movement," Lula told leaders. "With multilateralism under attack, our autonomy is in check once again."

BRICS nations represent >½ the world's population & 40% of its economic output, Lula noted…, warning of rising protectionism.

@Faithslayer202

Here's the bottom line

Eastern Europeans were promised a choice but denied the chance to exercise it. Between 1945 and 1949 every country behind the new “Iron Curtain” ended up with a Soviet-style single-party system—sometimes through rigged ballots, more often through outright coercion. Only the areas the Red Army did not control avoided that fate, underscoring how little real choice most people in the region had.

#ColdWar #EasternEurope #Europeans #Communists

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@Faithslayer202

🇾🇪 Yugoslavia & 🇦🇱 Albania were liberated by their own partisans, but 1945 ballots offered only Tito’s or Hoxha’s single lists. #ColdWar

Why promises collapsed
• Red Army occupation = decisive leverage
• NKVD advisers ran police & counted votes
• “Salami tactics” dismembered rivals
• Land reform & antifascist prestige won some support, but coercion sealed power. #WWII #IronCurtain

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@Faithslayer202

🇭🇺 Hungary
The 1945 election was truly free—communists won only 17 %. Mátyás Rákosi’s “salami tactics” (arrests, show trials, forced party mergers) sliced rivals away; by 1949 just one party remained. #Hungary #History

🇨🇿🇸🇰 Czechoslovakia
Communists took 38 % in the fair 1946 poll. When non-communist ministers resigned, armed “people’s militias” backed a February 1948 coup; all other parties were purged. #CzechHistory #ColdWar

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@Faithslayer202

May I suggest reviewing some history. This is easily googleable stuff.

After WW II Eastern Europe was promised “free elections,” but Soviet troops on the ground decided otherwise. Country by country, one-party states replaced pluralism. #History #ColdWar

🇵🇱 Poland
Yalta pledged a broad coalition, yet the Jan 1947 vote was run by the UB secret police: opposition jailed, ballots stuffed, communists claimed total victory. Choice over. #Poland

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