The Cold War - An American racket
So why did (and still does) America wage its Cold War?
Is it because socialist regimes stifle democracy? Well, so does America. America's posture has been (and still is) "You can have any regime you like as long it's 'America friendly' i.e. as long as you allow American corporations to exploit your people and your resources - and if you don't, we'll make sure your regime is toppled. We'll even install a dictatorship if we have to. We'll even invade you if we have to." That's democratic, is it? Clearly _not_. It's totalitarianism - American capitalist totalitarianism. So the Cold War was/is absolutely NOT about spreading freedom and democracy.
Is it because socialism doesn't work? Well, let's think about that for a minute, shall we? America so severely throttles and constrains socialist regimes with trade sanctions, embargoes, blockades, internal undermining (including black ops and assassinations), etc., that their economies collapse. For America to then say "See, socialism doesn't work" is a complete scam - it was (and still is) a massive Mafia-esque racket.
Is the Cold War about human rights abuses by socialist regimes? Hardly. The pro-American dictators (generals, shahs, kings, sultans and emirs) that America has installed in countless countries around the world have had just as bad a track record on human rights as any socialist regime - if not more so. Ask yourself this: Has America ever invaded a capitalist dictatorship? No! Interesting, eh? Wonder why that is... So, the Cold War was/is absolutely NOT not about human rights.
Hang about... If it's not about freedom, democracy, human rights or "lifting them out of poverty", then what is it all about? Why _did_ America kill millions and millions of people in its wars, trade sanctions, embargoes, blockades, internal undermining (including black ops and assassinations), etc., against "evil" socialism?
It was always about America's self-serving "interests".
And what are these "interests"? They are money, money, and more money. Corporate profits sucked out of underdeveloped countries and sent back to America. It was always about the economic rape and pillage of underdeveloped countries, without which America's economy would totally collapse - it would be a basket case of Venezuelan proportions.
And now we can see clearly why socialist regimes have been deemed "evil": Because they disallow parasitic American corporations to suck the lifeblood out of the domestic economies of underdeveloped countires - and make them forever dependent on America. That's a nice racket...
American capitalism is a global parasite keeping Americans rich at the expense of underdeveloped countries. You don't have to be a genius to understand that this tends to breed socialist (anti-imperialist) ideologies in those countries - and if a socialist regime rises to power, America starts its mass murderous Mafia-esque racket all over again.
In 1934, Smedley Butler, a retired United States Marine Corps Major General and two-time Medal of Honor recipient saw it all coming - and he wrote a book titled "War Is A Racket".
(It's a PDF file you can download for free.)
Trump era update: With Trump's belligerent isolationist and protectionist attitudes driving his Make America Great Again agenda, his actions and words have spooked the G20 countries to such an extent that the risk of a new global financial crisis far worse than that of 2008 looms large. One possible reaction to Trump's insane policies is that America gets ignored, kicked out, and the resultant G19 making new trade deals with each other to protect themselves against American economic aggression. In other words, the world keeps going with a kinder, less brutal, more inclusive form of capitalism, whilst America goes down the economic drain.