Proof Reagan DID NOT End The Cold War !

[stewert]

For the proof Reagan did not end the cold war read this article.

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Reagan and the Russians

The Cold War ended despite President Reagan's arms buildup, not because of it--or so former
President Gorbachev told the authors

by Richard Ned Lebow and Janice Gross Stein

February - 1994

The Carter-Reagan military buildup did not defeat the Soviet Union. On the contrary, it
prolonged the Cold War. Gorbachev's determination to reform an economy crippled in part
by defense spending urged by special interests, but far more by structural rigidities, fueled
his persistent search for an accommodation with the West. That persistence, not SDI, ended
the Cold War.

Full Story:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/foreign/reagrus.htm

[On the Road]

1. Reagan Could Have Screwed it Up

if he were hostile and insincere. (I think GWB would screw it up if placed in the same situation.)

I guess he has to be credited for that. But it's rather faint praise.

[ramapo]

2. Reagan owes Gorby a world of thanks

Reagan was the beneficiary of Gorbachev's policy of glasnost. Gorby had the courage to change the world by first allowing the Soviet-bloc to dissolve, then paving the way for the dissolution of the USSR.

[genius]

3. We all owe Gorbachev our lives.

[Catherine Vincent]

4. I don't care if he did or didn't but the repugs love to say that

Reagan ended the cold war. Did Reagan ever visit Russia after he left office or does Russia have any statues of Reagan? How do Russians feel that Reagan takes the credit for ending the cold war? Just curious.

[sybylla]

5. Reagan was as clueless about the USSR and the cold war as

the Chimp was about Saddam Hussein. The only difference is that the Dems controlled both houses and Reagan got lucky.

If the neighbor down the block had an arsenal in his basement that was roughly the equivalent of your arsenal stashed in your attic, you'd still have to be a moron to stand on the street outside his house and shout to the world that he's a fool. That was the great Ronnie Raygun. Fortunately for us that neighbor couldn't afford to shoot and had to sell off his weapons.