[SPORK] Eye-on-the-ball re: USSR vs. US "Magnitude of Bad"

[Jeff Bone]

Re: whether the US or the former USSR plays / played better with the 
other kids on the playground...

We're in a rat hole on the "internal conflict" question.  The 
discussion of internal casualties and transgressions is interesting and 
all, but let's not lose sight of the original question.  The discussion 
was about whether the US or the USSR is / was more "benevolent" in its 
relationships with other countries, as evidenced by a number of things 
(casualties in conflicts, adherence to international law, etc.)

Was the USSR more oppressive of its own population than the US has been 
to date?  I don't think there's any question about that --- of course 
it was.  Did they kill more of their own people throughout their 
history?  Probably, depending on how far back you go and which 
conflicts you count.  But all of that's really beside the point.

I'll take the position that "the US has historically inflicted more 
harm and acted more belligerently towards other nations than the USSR 
did during its tenure."  Let's knock that down, shall we?  I don't know 
the answer, but I doubt the differential is very great if we're "ahead" 
on benevolence.  And while we have a completely unbounded possible 
history of non-benevolence ahead of us, the USSR's days of being a 
mega-bad per se are clearly over. ;-)

jb