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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (111347)	2/12/2008 12:29:29 PM
From: Bill	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 132070

LOL. That's rich.

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (111347)	2/12/2008 12:53:02 PM
From: oldirtybastard	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

I wonder had iran/contra never happened, or they didn't get caught, if Reagan would have acted differently and we may not have even had a 20 year break in the cold war. Either case I still think Gorby deserves more credit than Reagan.

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (111347)	2/12/2008 1:25:06 PM
From: Freedom Fighter	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 132070

KT, You skipped one reason the Soviet Union failed. Its economic system (actually any centrally controlled system) could not achieve the wealth creation and rising standards of living that the west was achieving in the 40 years after WW2 despite having a very educated population and very significant natural resources. It had gotten to the point where even the Communists figured out that their system sucked. They couldn't hide it from their population anymore either. Of course Reagan talking about Americans enjoying Thanksgiving turkey, stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and vegetables etc.. directly to the Russian population while most of them were visiting supermarkets with empty shelves made it easier. ;-) Personally, I don't the Reagan administration planned the bankruptcy of the Soviet Union, but I think they knew they had to negotiate from strength and that's why they built up the military and started talking about Star Wars etc.... The collapse of the Soviet Union was a very useful byproduct of an arms race an inferior economic system could not keep up with and the realization inside the Soviet Union itself that their system sucked regardless. Gorbachev deserves credit for acting on the inevitable before it got too crazy.