Back in the days of the Cold War, much was said about the titanic power of the Soviet Union.  The USSR, we were told, was a superpower the equal of the United States, possibly even superior.  This meme was spread by lefties who wanted the USSR to win, by sincere pacifists hoping to stop war before it could begin, and by an enormous cohort of liberals who repeated it because they heard it from the first two.  (Much liberalism can be explained this way.  It's the ultimate "I heard it from somebody" ideology.) Needless to say, it was gibbering nonsense.  The late '80s Soviet collapse revealed that the USSR was never any kind of power at all – an economy that didn't produce, weapons that didn't work, a populace addicted to drink and overwhelmed with despair.  "Bulgaria with nukes" is how someone characterized it, and truer words were never spoken.  That remains the case...(Read Full Article)