Truly. 21-27 million soviets killed in WW2. Casualties would be 186.2 million, the entire population of the USSR for having to live through the Nazi invasion
WildWeezing420
joined 1 day ago
To be fair, Islamic dictatorships like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, ISIS, etc. legitimately do approach this caricature. They are extremely repressive and reactionary in regards to women's rights, among other things. The chauvinism comes in when Westerners believe all Islamic nations are just as repressive and reactionary as their allies are. It's a sort of self-soothing and coping projection mechanism for them to justify to themselves why they are allied to these fucked up nations and factions (that they helped create).
Their logic goes: Yes, it's not ideal that we have to ally ourself with these extremist reactionary islamists. But we must do it because they help combat Iran, who are equally evil - if not moreso because they oppose American and imperialist interests and want a nuke. So really, my getting in bed with the reactionaries is a wash because it's done to oppose even greater reactionaries.
That's why they must believe Iran is the caricature. Because doing otherwise would collapse their entire imperialist coalition and internal "logic". They need Iran to be reactionary and evil to cancel out their own side's evil, otherwise there's no way they could continue believing they are the "good guy". The role it plays for Western leftist chauvinists is similar, it allows them to fence-straddle instead of taking a principled revolutionary defeatist position against their own government and its proxies.
Supporting almost 50 revolutions worldwide. China supported Korea, Cambodia (cringe) and Vietnam* during Mao's time, but since then they have not aided anyone else in any serious capacity.
*some exceptions apply
Their outlooks aren't as different as commonly portrayed either. Iran is much more progressive (in both social and world-historical terms) than it is shown to be in western media. It is an Islamic republic, with civilian portions of the government that wield quite a lot of power. They have elections. They have fought for and materially supported the progressive and anti-imperialist factions of West Asia for decades. Women there have far more rights than in Western-aligned Islamic nations like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, being incredibly educated and able to pursue professional careers and independence.
Likewise, Venezuela is not fully communist or marxist even. The Democratic Socialist revolution there came about democratically and legally, which means the forces of reaction and capital there were never defeated in battle or repressed out of existence like in DPRK/USSR. The leadership of Venezuela are still constrained by a legal system set-up under bourgeois dictatorship, making any sweeping or revolutionary changes extremely difficult. The bourgeoise maintain their positions, with leashes, and still agitate constantly against the government. Venezuela is a complex society where Christian Social Democratic tendencies and Christian reactionary tendencies both still hold a large amount of power. It is not the atheistic form of Marxism that we saw in the USSR and DPRK.
All in all, the two countries are more alike than not. Victims of isolation, sanctions and imperial aggression from the so-called United States of America. Internally divided between patriots and compradors. Struggling towards world-historical progress in a flawed fashion, with missteps and errors alongside the victories. Both have powerful factions of bourgeoise still to contend with, hampering their efforts and spreading religious reaction (either directly or indirectly). The exact context and shape of these forces differs, but really they are brotherly nations in ideological outlook.
The main difference is that in Iran, the bourgeois reactionaries are secular and the progressive forces are Islamic and religious - whereas in Venezuela the bourgeois reactionaries are often religious and the progressive forces are socialist and often secular, but religion plays a lesser role. The reasons for this have to do with the specifics of how both of their revolutions played out, and what forces the CIA has decided to imbed within.
If you are going to get arrested regardless, might as well honor Pal Action by following in their example of radical direct action instead.