Biden is seven years older than the oldest Soviet leader (Stalin, who died at 74). Reagan and Trump were also older than any Soviet leader by the end of their terms.
I think it’s a fair point, TBH. It certainly seems to me like the Soviets relied too much on the old guard, as the vanguards of the revolution and the ones holding the ship together in general- and as the old guard died off as humans inevitably do, rot entered the system in their place, and eventually those holding the reins primarily were sellouts and the criminally naive.
The US has lasted far longer, but it’s also had the luck of the devil (and no small amount of imperial looting, war profiteering, and essentially inheriting the “post-colonial” order from western Europe) at its disposal; no other country in history has had such a privileged, and wretched history. In contrast, the Soviets essentially were besieged since the October revolution until the Soviet dissolution. One country clearly had more advantages, and more room for error, than the other.
Not very good. Especially given what happened to the USSR
Biden is seven years older than the oldest Soviet leader (Stalin, who died at 74). Reagan and Trump were also older than any Soviet leader by the end of their terms.
I think it’s a fair point, TBH. It certainly seems to me like the Soviets relied too much on the old guard, as the vanguards of the revolution and the ones holding the ship together in general- and as the old guard died off as humans inevitably do, rot entered the system in their place, and eventually those holding the reins primarily were sellouts and the criminally naive.
The US has lasted far longer, but it’s also had the luck of the devil (and no small amount of imperial looting, war profiteering, and essentially inheriting the “post-colonial” order from western Europe) at its disposal; no other country in history has had such a privileged, and wretched history. In contrast, the Soviets essentially were besieged since the October revolution until the Soviet dissolution. One country clearly had more advantages, and more room for error, than the other.