re: #190 SteveMcGaziBolaGate

I kind of expected the gang to be a bit more well versed in the realities of the Cold War. Containment, for better or worse, was the operating principle. The “far left” Carter Administration supported the Shah of Iran right through the end.
Like DF, I’m not justifying South Africa, just putting myself in the shoes of the guys who had to decide policy back then.

I really disagree with you there. For one, we actually did support some communist regimes that were independent of Moscow. The Romanian regime led by Ceau↞scu and also the Yugoslav one by Marshal Tito had tact Western support. So, I really don’t think it was as simple as containing communism. I really do think there was a bit of racism in why our policy was okay with totalitarianism in one part of the world but not okay with it in the other. I really do feel that we alienated a lot of people who we otherwise could have had as allies against the Soviets if we had been about the principle of anti-totalitarianism.