you left out the pope and the catholic church nearly bankrupting itself to help Polands movement towards freedom.
and you don't seem to have any idea that the reason the old guard Russsian military generals let go was because they realized they could not keep up with Regan's military and Star wars spending.
Russia was spending 25 to 35 percent of their GDP on the military and they knew they could not match up with Reagans new spending on new tech.
This gave gorbachev the opening he needed to reform.
I was in school in D.C. studying this with professors who were briefing congress and writing the reports at the time. I watched the predictions one of my professors made happen a very short time after making them. It was very exciting and a being aware of the danger was wild.
he said it was a dangerous time and that eventually the soviet union was going to have problems because Reagan's military spending accelerated their demise. The generals had to admit they could not keep up. They ceded their power to Gorbachev and reform.
The professor explained in 1985 that there would be a reckoning because the USSR had their natural resources in one area, their food in another and their people in another and they could not continue to spend some much of their GDP on the military yet alone spend more. He explained that Reagan policies were not giving them the time they needed to restructure and it would cause them to implode. This professor at GWU briefed Congress on the Russian economy... and pretty much nailed what was about to happened. He told congress they needed to be ready to pick up the pieces and help usher one the USSR broker apart.
and you don't seem to have any idea that the reason the old guard Russsian military generals let go was because they realized they could not keep up with Regan's military and Star wars spending.
Russia was spending 25 to 35 percent of their GDP on the military and they knew they could not match up with Reagans new spending on new tech.
This gave gorbachev the opening he needed to reform.
I was in school in D.C. studying this with professors who were briefing congress and writing the reports at the time. I watched the predictions one of my professors made happen a very short time after making them. It was very exciting and a being aware of the danger was wild.
he said it was a dangerous time and that eventually the soviet union was going to have problems because Reagan's military spending accelerated their demise. The generals had to admit they could not keep up. They ceded their power to Gorbachev and reform.
The professor explained in 1985 that there would be a reckoning because the USSR had their natural resources in one area, their food in another and their people in another and they could not continue to spend some much of their GDP on the military yet alone spend more. He explained that Reagan policies were not giving them the time they needed to restructure and it would cause them to implode. This professor at GWU briefed Congress on the Russian economy... and pretty much nailed what was about to happened. He told congress they needed to be ready to pick up the pieces and help usher one the USSR broker apart.
Russian historians? I'm sure there is one or two who makes mention of him favorably. Please give a name though? Reagan was out of office when the wall came down and a lot more had to do with Poland & Lech Walesa. Regan was not insignificant, he was pally with Gorbachev and that helped but the St. Regan revisionism is bullshit. The US contributed a lot of pressure but constant intellectual & propaganda pressure from the various European nations should be credited for a lot. Would Regan have stayed the course without Maggie for example?
Regan was the visibly aged leader of a lame duck administration clouded by scandal and corruption, Iran-Contra in particular when he made the tear down the wall speech. Which was not very well covered in the global media as he was a senile joke to most of the world at the time.
One could credit Carter for sneakily letting the Russians into Afghanistan unopposedThey bit off more than they could chew there and that demoralised them greatly. Or you could say point out what stupid fucker(s) sided/funded the Mujahedin, setting up the Taliban..
My girlfriend's grandfather back then was involved in you name it military programs from the 50s thru the early 90s. He worked at area 51 for years (allegedly). The events of 1989 were a surprise to them and they were the spook's spooks.
I understand the attachment to the 80s as you guys got to wallow in greed but get real crediting Regan so much with the collapse of the USSR. The Soviets had a large part in their own demise, Brezhnev the fault much of this.
