Cultural Diplomacy in the Cold War
... basically cut off. In the game this may be looked at as adding houses and hotels so that people don’t want to or can’t afford to land there, so they don’t want to visit and if they have the choice don’t. The west grew weary of the option of cultural connections with the Soviet Union shown by two reports. One report done by George Kennan states, “lip service will…be rendered to desirability of deepening cultural contacts between peoples, but this will not in practice be interpreted in any way which could weaken security position of the Soviet people. Actual manifestations of Soviet policy in this respect will be restricted to arid channels of closely shepherded official visits and functions, with superabundance of vodka and speeches and dearth of permanent effects.” (Gould-Davies 6) Another report by Kennan’s British counterpart, Frank Roberts stated, “Never since the Revolution has the Soviet Union been so cut off from the outsde world as today…Cultural contacts are canalised through VOKS, an institution whose purpose is to restrict rather then to encourage exchanges of knowledge and promotion of real friendship…Although private individuals and government spokesman alike inn Britain and the United States plead for the doors to be opened, these appeals pass unheeded on the Soviet side.” (Gould-Davies 6) As for the Monopoly analogy this looks a lot like someone wanting to make a early deal but the other person is not going to let that happen so early in the game. It also shows a resistance to let cultural influences in the country. The Soviets feared to let people see other cultures that didn’t correspond with the Soviet ideals. Things changed a little, however, due to the death of Stalin. Nikita Khrushchev took over and his ideas differed a little from those of Stalin. He called for more trade with the leading Capitalist nations. The problem that arises is that of and deal in Monopoly. That is that for a deal to work between two people it had to benefit both side fairly and equally but the problem is that the groups both want to open opportunities for them selves but they don’t want the other side to have the same opportunities. If I have park place and I want Boardwalk ill have to give something of equal value to the other person but I still fear that that will come back and haunt me later. I am scared to open myself up and begin trading. This is like the Soviets wanting to open trade but both the Soviets and Capitalists want deal...