Quote:
Originally posted by Spanky
The collapse of the communism in Eastern Europe and the Collapse of the Soviet Union was caused by Gorbachav. He instituted Prerestroika and Glasnost. As he admitted himself, he loosened the bonds a little and the whole thing fell apart. Why did he institute his reforms? According to him the massive military build up by the US left him (and the politburo) with no options. In order to match the US expenditures and maintain the Soviet standard of living he needed a stronger economy so that is why he came up with Prerastroika. In order to counter the Reagan Administrations constant and unrelentless criticism of his regime in the eyes of the world he had to institute Glasnost. Glasnost and Prerastroika were also supposed to create synergy. He insituted these reforms to save Socialism and the Soviet Union and it had just the opposite effect. For once can't liberals just give credit where credit is due. What more evidence do you need?
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Not to be all lawyerly and shit, but you haven't identified any evidence yet. I'm happy to take a look at whatever you've got.
The stuff I was quoting from earlier today was from U.S. government sources, and it turns out that you can write a fairly complete account of what happened in Eastern Europe in the 1980s without mentioning U.S. military spending. Solidarity predated glasnost and perestroika.
And there is no doubt that Soviet communism was in trouble by the mid-1980s, even if few in the West could perceive it. Gorbachev did. He came to power because it was clear that the approach of the prior generation (Yuri Andropov, anyone? Konstantin Chernenko?) wasn't going to cut it. Attributing this to the marginal additional expenditures that Reagan backed -- remember that the build-up started under Carter -- seems to me to be trying just a little too hard to take credit. Hey, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan all by themselves.
eta:
My Google Fu is not strong enough to find whatever it is you think Gorby said. Instead, CNN's
profile of him says that he was trying to opt out of the arms race, not to keep up:
- Gorbachev finally rose to the top party spot in March 1985. Almost from the start, he strove for significant reforms, so that the system would work more efficiently and more democratically. Hence the two key phrases of the Gorbachev era: "glasnost" (openness) and "perestroika" (reform). Hoping to shift resources to the civilian sector of the Soviet economy, Gorbachev also began to argue in favor of an end to the arms race with the West.
