Originally posted by The Mad Monk
Soviet Premier Gorbachev's three predecessors Brezhnev, Andropov and Chernenko had all died during Reagan's first four years in office. Whenever Reagan was asked why he had waited so long for a summit with the Soviets, he would reply, "They kept dying on me."
Soviet Premier Gorbachev's three predecessors Brezhnev, Andropov and Chernenko had all died during Reagan's first four years in office. Whenever Reagan was asked why he had waited so long for a summit with the Soviets, he would reply, "They kept dying on me."
Brezhnev presided over the beginning of the internal collapse of the SU. He let corruption get out of hand and did nothing to stop it. I think Andropov would have matched Reagan's belliegerance and postponned any real reforms-that would have continued the internal collapse and corruption, but the Soviet Military Complex would have continued to hum. BUt he drops dead fast, then comes Chernenko, another old guard (obviously too old), he drops dead, and thus comes Gorbachev-thinking of reforming the USSR to save it, but coming too late, unable due to rampant corruption to open up the economy, yet also carrying out political reforms, which brought him down- a lesson, as always, that the Chinese learnt, which is why as the USSR abandoned the East European regimes to their own, they let the tanks roll onto Tianemen.
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