Tag Archives: COVID-19

Chernobyl, the Soviet Union, the United States and COVID-19

The Soviet Union did not collapse due to actions President Reagan or the actions of any President of the United States In fact, President Roosevelt, via the Lend Lease Act during WW II, helped the Soviet Union and Great Britain withstand the onslaught of Nazi Germany. It helped win the war. (History.com, OurDocuments.gov, FDRLibrary.org.)

The Soviet Union, according to Mikhail Gorbachev, collapsed after and as a direct result of the meltdown at Chernobyl. Andropov, Gorbachev, and other members of the Central Committee realized that not only could they not hide the truth, but that the Soviet system was failing and doomed to failure. This is discussed in detail at Slate and at Faultlines.

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Risk Mis-Management From Napoleon in Russia to COVID-19

Napoleon in Russia

On June 24, 1812 Napoleon led his Grand Army, 500,000 strong, across the Neman River into Russia. His goal was to persuade Tzar Alexander I not to trade with Great Britain. The Russian Army retreated before Napoleon’s, leaving a trail of burning farm fields. Napoleon made it to Moscow by mid-September, where he “captured” a deserted and burning city. Napoleon and his army camped out in the smoldering ruins for a month waiting the Tzar to sue for peace. But Alexander never did. Napoleon left Moscow on October 19, 1812, following the Russian army, with the Russian winter closing in. Napoleon’s army encountered the Russian army in the Battle of Maloyaroslavets. The battle was militarily inconclusive, but Napoleon’s army, starving and freezing, began its retreat back to Paris. In its retreat Napoleon’s army withstood attacks by the Russian army, Cossacks, and “peasants.” 

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