Perestroika and Glasnost

Coincidentally, Washington’s 21^st century “grand strategy” of empire and hegemony with the aim of annihilating and purging culture, philosophy, and religion around the world was also the “grand strategy” pursued by the former Soviet Union during its 20^th century heyday. In turn, the culmination of such a strategy consisted of a humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan externally as well as calls internally for Perestroika (reform) and Glasnost (openness) in terms of the whole-of-government policy and strategy. Thus, the parallels between the Soviet experience in the 20^th century and the 21^st century American experience are striking.

“Chicken-hawks” such as Paul Wolfowitz and Eliot Cohen served as the props and mouthpieces for a whole-of-government policy and a strategy aimed at the annihilation and purging of culture, philosophy, and religion around the world, and these props and mouthpieces were amplified by mainstream media outlets such as CNN. Now, the policy and the strategy are at a dead end, all while internal efforts towards an American version of Perestroika and Glasnost are gaining momentum at both a grassroots level and a global level.

What prompted Perestroika and Glasnost during the Soviet experience of the 21^st century was the influx of information from the outside world. Now, with the rise of the internet, social media, and technology, there is an influx of information from all over the world coming into the United States. Thus, the American version of Perestroika and Glasnost is the result of information coming to Americans from all over the world, as was the case with the Soviet version of Perestroika and Glasnost in the 20^th century when information from all over the world was coming to Soviet citizens.

In turn, the influx of information in both the Soviet case and the American case involves a revival of culture, philosophy, and religion at a national and societal level. Outlets such as the BBC have documented the revival of culture, philosophy, and religion in post-Soviet states such as Kyrgyzstan. Thus, the aim of both individual and collective efforts tailored towards the reversal of a whole-of-government policy and strategy based on empire and hegemony is the revival of culture, philosophy and religion, given that the aim of a whole-of-government policy and strategy based on empire and hegemony is the annihilation and purging of culture, philosophy, and religion around the world.

Now, the strategic aim and context of the “chicken-hawks” has changed from one consisting of empire and hegemony with the aim of annihilating and purging culture, philosophy, and religion to the cancelation and censorship of a cultural, philosophical, and religious revival around the world, including in the United States. But as was the case with the earlier strategy and objective consisting of annihilation and purging, the latest strategy and objective consisting of cancellation and censorship is also doomed to fail. I have documented certain instances of cancelation and censorship on the part of big tech and mainstream media in previous blog posts which I have witnessed firsthand. In the end, however, the strategy and objective of cancelation and censorship amounts to a futile game of “whack-a-mole” that drains the mind.