Reagan's Legacy - How will he be remembered?

[Ted Striker]

How Reagan Won the Cold War

How the East Was Won: Why Ronald Reagan Won the Cold War


With Operation Urgent Fury -- the invasion of Grenada -- two decades ago, Cold War history began a dramatic turn that would lead in less than a decade to the demise of an empire. Ronald Reagan's clarity of vision, tenacity and unwavering beliefs led to the dismantling of America's most formidable foe.

Twenty years ago, Ronald Reagan ordered American troops to invade Grenada and liberate the island from its ruling Marxist dictator. By itself this would have been an insignificant military action: Grenada is a tiny island of little geopolitical significance. But in reality the liberation of Grenada was a historic event, because it signaled the end of the Brezhnev Doctrine and inaugurated a sequence of events that brought down the Soviet empire itself.

http://www.thehistorynet.com/ahi/blreaganwoncoldwar/

[Drake Tungsten]

Not much, evidently.

You know what they say: if liberals were half as smart as they think they are, they would be conservative...

[Drake Tungsten]

Good article, Ted.

[Urban Ranger]

Re: How Reagan Won the Cold War

Originally posted by Ted Striker
http://www.thehistorynet.com/ahi/blreaganwoncoldwar/

Reagan Didn't End the Cold War

Arbatov understood all too well the failings of Soviet totalitarianism in comparison to the economy and politics of the West. It is clear from this candid and nuanced memoir that the movement for change had been developing steadily inside the highest corridors of power ever since the death of Stalin. Arbatov not only provides considerable evidence for the controversial notion that this change would have come about without foreign pressure, he insists that the U.S. military buildup during the Reagan years actually impeded this development.

George F. Kennan agrees. The former US ambassador to the Soviet Union, and father of the theory of "containment" of the same country, asserts that "the suggestion that any United States administration had the power to influence decisively the course of a tremendous domestic political upheaval in another great country on another side of the globe is simply childish." He contends that the extreme militarization of American policy strengthened hard-liners in the Soviet Union. "Thus the general effect of Cold War extremism was to delay rather than hasten the great change that overtook the Soviet Union."

Though the arms-race spending undoubtedly damaged the fabric of the Soviet civilian economy and society even more than it did in the United States, this had been going on for 40 years by the time Mikhail Gorbachev came to power without the slightest hint of impending doom. Gorbachev's close adviser, Aleksandr Yakovlev, when asked whether the Reagan administration's higher military spending, combined with its "Evil Empire" rhetoric, forced the Soviet Union into a more conciliatory position, responded:

It played no role. None. I can tell you that with the fullest responsibility. Gorbachev and I were ready for changes in our policy regardless of whether the American president was Reagan, or Kennedy, or someone even more liberal. It was clear that our military spending was enormous and we had to reduce it.

[emphasis my own]

Ah. Quote wars. I love it.

[Drake Tungsten]

Ted's piece is a hell of a lot more reputable than yours...

[Ted Striker]

Yeah, and it is more well rounded as well, addressing the structural failings in the Soviet Union that had existed over the past 40 years and why Reagan did things differently that exerted immense pressure on the Evil Empire.

Plus I am correct 100% of the time.

[Ted Striker]

.

[Berzerker]

Fondest memory - "I've decided to outlaw the Soviet Union... the bombs start dropping in 5 minutes"

Probably not the exact words, but still very funny... I won't go into why I regret voting for him...

[The Mad Monk]

George F. Kennan agrees. The former US ambassador to the Soviet Union, and father of the theory of "containment" of the same country, asserts that "the suggestion that any United States administration had the power to influence decisively the course of a tremendous domestic political upheaval in another great country on another side of the globe is simply childish." He contends that the extreme militarization of American policy strengthened hard-liners in the Soviet Union. "Thus the general effect of Cold War extremism was to delay rather than hasten the great change that overtook the Soviet Union."

Can anyone find me the original source of that quote?

[The Mad Monk]

This was my attempt:

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22the+suggestion+that+any+United+States+administration+had+the+power+to+influence+%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&filter=0

[The Mad Monk]

Interesting:

On the end of the Cold War:

I think historical forces were a greater faction in the [end of] the Cold War than were the actions of any individuals. But if you have to find two individuals who contributed greatly to this, I would put first of all Gorbachev... but also Ronald Reagan, who was, in his own inimitable way, probably not even quite aware of what he was really doing! He did what few other people would have been able to do in breaking this logjam.

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/01/interviews/kennan/

[GePap]

The Logjam Reagan broke, as far as I am concerned, was not in his first term, the term in which the funded an arms race and used the more beligerant tone and so forth, what the Republicans laud him on and say won the cold war (given their chickenhawk mentality)- It was his second term, when Gorbachev was in power-Reagan, for all his Evil Empire talk was willing to work with Gorbachev, and also wanted to back down from the nuclear war threat-hence signing such a massive cut in nuclear weapons. He enaged Gorbachev and was a partner in the last 3 years of his tenure. It was in doing that he helped Gorbachev.

If Ronnie deserves any credit on ending the CW, it is for his optimistic diplomacy after 1985 and his sunny notion that the nuclear impase could end, not for his masive military spending and criminal acts in his firt term.

[Drake Tungsten]

What do you think brought Gorbachev to power?

[The Mad Monk]

Originally posted by GePap
The Logjam Reagan broke, as far as I am concerned, was not in his first term, the term in which the funded an arms race and used the more beligerant tone and so forth, what the Republicans laud him on and say won the cold war (given their chickenhawk mentality)- It was his second term, when Gorbachev was in power-Reagan, for all his Evil Empire talk was willing to work with Gorbachev, and also wanted to back down from the nuclear war threat-hence signing such a massive cut in nuclear weapons. He enaged Gorbachev and was a partner in the last 3 years of his tenure. It was in doing that he helped Gorbachev.

If Ronnie deserves any credit on ending the CW, it is for his optimistic diplomacy after 1985 and his sunny notion that the nuclear impase could end, not for his masive military spending and criminal acts in his firt term.

You missed the point.

There is a total mismatch between what he said in that interview, and what Counterpunch said he said in it's article. No, I am not saying Counterpunch quoted that interview, I'm saying that what it quoted in it's article -- and appears nowhere else -- does not match other things the man has said.

[SlowwHand]

Apparently there's some good in all things.
At least Bush is getting a break.