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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: rich4eagle who wrote (215265)	1/7/2002 10:08:43 AM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769667

Only because you do not understand them. The Soviet Union didn't have an economic collapse. It had a political collapse. Its economic difficulties were an important factor in the political collapse, but were not sufficient to cause it. The main thing that caused the political collapse was liberalization, primarily "glasnost". There were two main reasons that the reformers had a relatively free hand: the fear that the Soviet Union could not sustain an acceleration of military competition with the United States, due to SDI, and the overall desire to counter Reagan's success in creating a new hardline against neutralism in Europe and Soviet adventurism in the Third World. Thus, Gorbachev mounted a "peace offensive", to try for "detente two"; he instituted "glasnost" both to show the face of a new, improved Soviet Union to the West, and to provide a steam valve for popular discontent; and he had vague restructuring plans ("perestroika") to improve the condition of the economy, both to bolster the consumer sector, and to provide a better long term basis for the military. It is doubtful that Gorbachev would have been given the top spot without Reagan, but even if he had, it is very unlikely that he would have been allowed to progress so far with political liberalization had he not had some success with negotiating with Reagan. In other words, the attempt to oust Gorbachev would have occurred much sooner, and almost certainly been effective, had it not been for Reagan. By the time the Politiburo moved against Gorbachev, the political situations was out of control, and Yeltsin rallied the people of Moscow to defend Gorbachev. Subsequently, things spun out of even Gorbachev's control, since people were disillusioned with the central government, and the Army was falling apart due to bad morale. (The rate of desertion became staggering at the end of the Soviet period). SDI was not the sole reason that the Soviet Union collapsed. Additionally, our willingness to counter the Soviets in Afghanistan (begun under Carter); our countering of Cuba in Central America and Angola; our ability to counter the European peaceniks and place intermediate missiles in West Europe; our support of Solidarity; our rhetorical support of a free and united Germany ("Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall") and of the liberated Baltic States; and other such things all contributed. Ronald Reagan created the political conditions where a person like Gorbachev looked like the best bet for the Soviets to calm down an aroused West, after the provocations of the Gorbachev years, and to get breathing space to deal with its domestic problems, without totally losing the strategic competition. The additional fact that Reagan was willing to treat Gorbachev well, as long as Gorbachev made positive reform efforts and seemed to be earnest in bargaining at the summit, increased Gorbachev's value to the Politiburo, and made them more tolerant of politically risky reform. Thus, Reagan was the key to the political demise of the Soviet Union.......