Sunday, March 25, 2012

chernobyl caused the collapse of the soviet union

washingtonsblog |Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s policy of open politics – called perestroika – is largely blamed for the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, according to Gorbachev’s 1996 memoirs, it was the Chernobyl nuclear accident, rather than perestroika (or Ronald Reagan’s increased arms spending), which destroyed the Soviet Union.

As Gorbachev wrote in 2006:

The nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl 20 years ago this month, even more than my launch of perestroika, was perhaps the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union five years later. Indeed, the Chernobyl catastrophe was an historic turning point: there was the era before the disaster, and there is the very different era that has followed.

***

The Chernobyl disaster, more than anything else, opened the possibility of much greater freedom of expression, to the point that the system as we knew it could no longer continue. It made absolutely clear how important it was to continue the policy of glasnost, and I must say that I started to think about time in terms of pre-Chernobyl and post-Chernobyl.

The price of the Chernobyl catastrophe was overwhelming, not only in human terms, but also economically. Even today, the legacy of Chernobyl affects the economies of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.

As we’ve previously noted, “. Indeed, Fukushima .

And any country foolish enough to build unsafe nuclear reactors – based upon their ability to produce plutonium for nuclear warheads and to power nuclear submarines – may go the way of the Soviet Union.

Especially if it is foolish enough to let the same companies which built and run Fukushima build and run their new plants as well.

8 comments:

umbrarchist said...

I have been saying Chernobyl was a major factor in that for years and people look at me  like I'm crazy.

The economic and psychological impacts of that must have been horrendous, but no, we Americans all know it was because of Ronald Reagan and Star Wars.  ROFLMBAO

CNu said...

Funny how hard, fast, and c,ontinuous the WAKE UP calls are coming from everywhere all at once. Yet, most of these humans still just steady sawing logs peacefully in thrall to the concensus hallucination...,

Dale Asberry said...

I think there is more to it than consensus hallucination -- willful aversion. We're well past wake up calls and moving into-pocket watches melting off the table crazy-land. That is my one and only dataset relevant to pretend-and-extend. I think the susceptible will do it until past the point of running off the rails and over the cliff. They will defend their denials to the death.

Ed Dunn said...

This is happening real-time in Japan right now. They are taking all of their commercial nuclear reactors offline. They are already warning about rolling blackouts this summer and a 20% price increase on electric utilities.  They are looking at other ways such as geothermal but that is just talk.

This may be the precursor to an economic problem..they already talking about taking out the cute Japanese vending machines to save electricity...

CNu said...

As is Germany. The deadly serious peoples are tightening up their short-term belts in hopes of getting their siht together for a long-term strategic and operational haul.

robertb said...

Its been time for a change for decades now. Mayak is another horrible nuclear catastrophe that occurred in the Urals in the 50s. That information has finally become available as well. The internet is pretty amazing. Once governments and militaries found out what they were capable of they should have made a pact to never develop or use these things. Nuclear power is not safe and NEVER WILL BE. Even if there isnt an accident, which there have been a number of, the waste will continue to pose a threat to all living things for thousands of years.

robertb said...

Its been time for a change for decades now. Mayak is another horrible nuclear catastrophe that occurred in the Urals in the 50s. That information has finally become available as well. The internet is pretty amazing. Once governments and militaries found out what they were capable of they should have made a pact to never develop or use these things. Nuclear power is not safe and NEVER WILL BE. Even if there isnt an accident, which there have been a number of, the waste will continue to pose a threat to all living things for thousands of years.

robertb said...

Its been time for a change for decades now. Mayak is another horrible
nuclear catastrophe that occurred in the Urals in the 50s. That
information has finally become available as well. The internet is pretty
amazing. Once governments and militaries found out what they were
capable of they should have made a pact to never develop or use these
things. Nuclear power is not safe and NEVER WILL BE. Even if there
isnt an accident, which there have been a number of, the waste will
continue to pose a threat to all living things for thousands of years.

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