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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group
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To: Michael Watkins who wrote (148757)10/23/2004 12:02:52 PM
From: Neocon  Read Replies (3) of 281500
 
The Soviet Union was nowhere near economic collapse, despite consumer dissatisfaction. Consider this: even Gorbachev did not feel compelled to follow the Chinese model, which had a proven track record in creating economic growth.

Gorbachev did not rise due to internal politics, but because of the success of Reagan in rallying the West against Breshnev's adventurism. The Kremlim was desperate to mount a peace offensive to lead to another round of "detente".

Computers and telecommunicatons did not hit critical mass until the next decade, and even then have not led to the toppling of the Chinese Communist regime. It is not very relevant.

We engaged in a classic tit for tat strategy: countering the Soviets if they were aggressive, rewarding them if they were conciliatory. In addition, they knew we could outspend them on Star Wars, and they were already spending a much greater proportion of their GDP on the military than we were, so they were anxious to undermine our interest in SDI. This helped to keep Gorbachev in power after the Kremlin became disillusioned with reform, and by the time they were willing to act against him, the political situation had evolved too much, and Yeltsin was able to resist the Kremlin.

You are not even a good historian, much less a good conservative.
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