I Have Seen the Collapse of an Empire

TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 9 Feb 2026

David Adams | Transition to a Culture of Peace – TRANSCEND Media Service

In the final years of the 20th Century I was a witness to the collapse of the Soviet Empire.

Having spent up to six months at a time on many occasions from 1973 to 1986 in the Soviet Union, I saw how a great empire with alliances in most continents, came to crash from within.

I took the time subsequently to analyse in detail the cause of the crash, as you can read here: http://www.culture-of-peace.info/soviet-collapse/introduction.html

I suggest that you compare the following quotes on the first page to news coming out of the American Empire at the present time.

“the Soviet Union had devoted its economy to the arms race”

Trump calls for US military spending to rise more than 50% to $1.5tn

“the deficit amounted to 120 billion roubles which was almost a quarter of the entire government budget”

Dalio warned America’s in a ‘debt death spiral’, with US dollar at risk

“As contradictions mounted, the Soviet people became more and more cynical about the propaganda of government-controlled media.”

 The Trump Administration’s Lies Insult the Intelligence of Every American

The culture of war is not invincible.  Empires do crash.

The same species that invented war is capable of inventing peace.

A people united can never be defeated.

*****************

Une version française suit en dessous)

(Y este mes también una versión en español después)

_________________________________________________

Dr. David Adams is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment and coordinator of the Culture of Peace News Network. He retired in 2001 from UNESCO where he was the Director of the Unit for the UN International Year for the Culture of Peace.  Previously, at Yale and Wesleyan Universities, he was a specialist on the brain mechanisms of aggressive behavior, the history of the culture of war, and the psychology of peace activists, and he helped to develop and publicize the Seville Statement on Violence. Send him an email.

Go to Original – decade-culture-of-peace.org

Share this article: email mastodon facebook 🔗 copy link

DISCLAIMER: The statements, views and opinions expressed in pieces republished here are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of TMS. In accordance with title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. TMS has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is TMS endorsed or sponsored by the originator. “GO TO ORIGINAL” links are provided as a convenience to our readers and allow for verification of authenticity. However, as originating pages are often updated by their originating host sites, the versions posted may not match the versions our readers view when clicking the “GO TO ORIGINAL” links. This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

There are no comments so far.