The Soviets viewed the post war world (WWII) with complete disdain and distrust, particularly from the standpoint of the other emerging global power in the form of the United States. This is essentially stated within the Part 1(a), quote:
<em>USSR still lives in antagonistic "capitalist encirclement" with which in the long run there can be no permanent peaceful coexistence.</em>
After all, the USSR and satellite countries as well as allies closely followed the policy of Communism, which upheld a totalitarian government with the benefits bar none but equalized to each and every citizen. On the other hand, the view of the United States and Capitalism was that of the oppression of the middle class and lower class, in that the rich continues to get richer, while the poor stay poor (a classic example is the viewpoints of the Democratic Party today).
In accordance, the soviets push for a global expansion to take all of the world under the wings of Communism, by first creating a buffer statehood using the eastern European nation bloc (known as the Iron Curtain), and to ally themselves with other communist countries across the world, (including, but not limited too, Venezuela, Cuba, China, North Vietnam, North Korea, etc).
With a globalistic expansion in mind, these plans are extremely important on the developments of a cold war, particularly with the United State's policy of containment in place. After all, when a unstoppable force meets a unmovable object, the two will clash. Examples of this can be found through out both country's policies, including their policy towards the Korean War, Vietnam War, the Cuban missile crisis, etc. With each other at opposite ends, yet withholding their will to destroy the entire world, the superpowers pursued a cold war with the help of proxy wars.
Of course, the ending of these wars can be justified by how the world is viewed today. The United States became the sole world power, and the USSR disintegrated into individual sovereign states. This is one of the more major examples of the failure of Communism, and that of the virtues of Capitalism.