>> "With SDI and the buildup the USSR collapses, without them it does not".
Primary or not primary, it was the driving force without which the USSR might still be around.
Reagan was very specific going into it, that it was a unique opportunity to bring about the collapse of the USSR by engaging it in an arms race that clearly, they could never win. SDI was part of it, which was the reason Gorbachev was so insistent that we give it up at Reykjavik (and Reagan's established negotiating strength is the reason he could get up and walk out in the face of an otherwise attractive deal).
True, USSR was likely to collapse eventually either way. After all, they were being propped up by some unusual economic circumstances. But it could have been another 10, 20, 30 or more years, a time during which anything might have happened. So, time was of the essence.
When Reagan took office he had long known that the Soviet economy was their achilles heel.
Reagan won the Cold War, then and there. Might the USSR have collapsed later on? Sure, it was weakened. But Reagan's strategy was perfect and that moment was Churchillian, IMO. I didn't really see it start taking shape until SDI, but it was clearly over with the phrase, "Tear Down this Wall." Nothing was going to stop it at that point. |
