A Tale of Two Jokes

I remember a joke from the seventies, when computers were mystical wonderful things.

The American President and the Russian Premier were having an argument about who would win the Cold War. So they consulted the world's biggest computer. After all the relevant data was entered, the computer spinned and whirled and lights flashed. Then the printout said, " In 50 years American will be a socialist nation." The Russian Premier chuckled. 

The American president then said, "Well, let's see what the computer says about Russia." After all the relevant data was entered the computer spinned and whirled and lights flashed. The American President looked at the printout, frowned, and said, "I can't understand it, it is all in Chinese."

There are a lot of ironies in the joke. America "won" the Cold War, yet it can be argued that America is today a socialist nation. I would argue that fascist is a better adjective. China, while currently in a bit of a funk, "is doing quite well, thank you very much." In some ways Russia is more capitalistic than the US, but neither is a capitalist country as both are oligarchies.

These days a joke is "making the rounds" among Russian speakers.

Obama and Putin have an argument. They decide to go to a fortune teller to settle it. They ask, "Will there be war?" The fortune teller deals the cards and pronounces that there will be war. Obama does not seem concerned. He asks the fortune teller about inflation. He asks, "What will be the inflation rate? For example, what will a hot dog cost in ten years?" The gypsy deals the cards and pronounces the judgment of the cards. "A hot dog will cost 30 Rubles," she says.

My point is that Russia is being played and propagandized, maybe self-propagandized, by its humor. No surprise here. All governments and cultures do the same. 

The last few of America's wars have not been against countries that could fight back. It is not clear what will happen. While a Russian victory seems unlikely, so does an American victory. Yet America seems to "hell bent" on war as well. Listen to the propaganda on American nightly news. What will happen if there is conflict? I doubt it will be a "shooting war." But it will instead be asymmetrical—sanctions and such. How will the individual members of NATO respond, countries like Poland that gets most of its natural gas from Russia? Or consider Germany that gets 30%. This gas will be impossible to replace for decades, and the price will double even if they can replace it.

The American response? Obama reinforces the American Pacific Fleet to "piss off" China.

Hubris.

Wiki:

Hubris means extreme pride or self-confidence. Hubris often indicates a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one's own competence, accomplishments or capabilities, especially when the person exhibiting it is in a position of power.