The Political Economy of the Cold War

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1. While the failure in S. Vietnam was partly in Washington; there is no evidence that US military strategy or tactics were working. You cannot kill your way through a Counter Insurgency campaign. You are killing the very people you are trying to protect. This lesson was lost in Afghanistan and in Iraq also. The US Army establishment (Generals not Privates) MUST take their share of responsibility for these national failures. This bodes badly for the many interventions of the future.
   
   Prof. Ferguson was very gentle on the moral, cultural and economic collapse of the UK during the Cold War, leading to its withdrawal from the world after BREXIT.
2. In this series of lectures, Niall Ferguson to a large extent adheres to the arguments put forth by Lewis Gaddis, who was a speechwriter of George Bush junior. In one of his books Gaddis says "I felt very fortunate, because I never as a student felt the obligation to condemn the American establishment and all its works". Perry Anderson has said of Gaddis, that for over four decades, he has tirelessly upheld patriotic truths about his country, and the dangers it faced. So the U.S's foreign policy is here presented in the most favourable light by Ferguson. Other historians believe that requirements of profitability, not of security, formed the guideline of US foreign policy, thus viewing the Cold War as merely a subplot, within the larger history of American global domination. Examples are McCormick, Kolko and Lloyd Gardner.
3. this guy is so full of himself
4. His views seem to have changed recently.
5. It's funny how historians can't help putting themselves into the story; all the way from this guy's introduction...
   Still, I like Ferguson's delivery - he doesn't ramble, he's organized, and his criticism of his past view was refreshing. It's also telling how more and more of these guys are talking about Asia's importance through history; had they not recognized that before, say, the Beijing Olympics? I'm fairly young, so I can't remember.
6. Damn. Ferguson sucks so hard.
7. i'm not a fan of the current crony capitalist establishment, but anyone who yearns for the red alternative is to me both sad and hilarious at the same time. yeah, the US has done a LOT of dirt. what has it done with its power as compared to other countries similarly positioned to let it go to their heads? i suppose there's always time for things to get worse, but the simple fact that such obscene amounts of money are still being spent by whores seeking reelection sort of says that somebody is still worried about somebody else having a chance to win them and take over. you reds never had that in the soviet union, no even mentioning having your grandfather being ordered to report to the police and never being seen again.
8. He says that U.S. Military intervention was successful. Is that true in the Dominican Republic? In Chile? In El Salvador? Supporting brutal dictators is not my idea of "success"
9. But not richer than those of a comparable geographical location; Germany, Austria or my own little Denmerk were they? Just as we up here in the north are still richer today than those three countries and just as Poland- Czechoslovakia is richer than Bulgaria-Romania. Geographical location/infrastructure, resources, culture seems to play a role as well, eh?
10. Ferguson is critical of the planned economy over free markets. The combination of large capitalist enpterprises or monopolies and central state planning is fascism, something that Milton Friedman specifically warns against. I'll replay the clip so I can find the reference to corruption. If you have the time index for it, please post.
11. I wasn't aware your attitude to Ferguson's ideas on historical economics had any sort of sexual dynamic, either pro or con. In any event he's recently remarried. And yes, one can be nostalgic for a society that a certain set of ideas was responsible for. Naill Ferguson is not a didactic capitalist, although he is a fan of Milton Friedman and the Chicago School. The problem with planned economies is how poorly they respond to consumer demand, but then go look up his ideas on the PRC today.
12. Naill Ferguson does not address either US or USSR corruption, only the economic strategies used by these two countries and others which followed their respective economic models, and speculated on the reasons for the results. Ferguson is actually very critical of how the US economy is being managed today. And negative growth may be normal for planned economies, but is not an indicator of economic success. I'm a college graduate, with a mathematics and computer science background.
13. I already anticipated the nostalgia for Marxist ideas. You clearly don't like the man on grouds related to this nostalgia. But again, what did Naill Ferguson say that is clearly erroneous about the Eastern Bloc countries? 
14. Can you give me some examples of Ferguson's blatant errors? If he's as poor at his job as you say, it shouldn't be very hard for you to come up with several.
15. It is hard for me to believe, but Ferguson is beiing described as a "low quality economist, mediocre historian, and poor philosopher" because he's claimed that Eastern Europe had a bad economy under Marxism. He's clearly not popular in this forum, perhaps because he is said to champion those that are dissatisfied with the "Western intelligensia." The implication is that this is a bad thing to be. Might this have something to do with a residual nostalgia for Marxist-style economic management?
16. Too bad, You had such a promising start.
17. No doubt the extensive post-war looting of the East German industrial infrastructure was meant to create an anti-war memorial in Moscow. Maybe it was like the Tokugawa sword hunt to make a big Buddha statue.
18. He didn't say why there was no lack of investment, just that there was.