Quote:
Originally posted by sgtclub
You misunderstand me. I tend to agree that it was not inevitable. I thought what you were suggesting is that Gorbachev was the real driving force behind the collapse. I view someone like him, at best, as one of the necessary preconditions, but not as the driving force.
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I'm too much of a Marxist (hi Slave!) not to believe that the underlying economic conditions didn't a huge effect on what happened. But Gorbachev's efforts at reform may have been the spark that set off the kindling. As you say, this was surely not what he intended.
I think we're fooling ourselves if we think our increases in military spending made the difference. Something else that Reagan did -- and Carter and Ford before him -- was to use human rights as an element of foreign policy against the Soviets. I've read that the 1975 Helsinki Accords were a huge blow to the USSR, because they emboldened internal dissent behind the Iron Curtain.
