Reagan Didn't Win the Cold War

Saturday, September 07, 2024

Max Boot: How a Myth About the Collapse of the Soviet Union Leads Republicans Astray on China

Posted by Corky at 08:32 PM | 34 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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Reagan "won" the Cold War is a GOPer myth as untethered from reality as the party's current worship of a thirty-four times convicted felon. Who else do they have to serve as a vehicle for their pathetic fantasies? Nixon? Harding?

#1 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2024-09-07 06:41 AM | Reply

Hoover. Now that guy could stimulate an economy!

#2 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2024-09-07 10:51 AM | Reply

Great article, by the way. I should subscribe to Foreign Affairs again, been awhile.

#3 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2024-09-07 12:24 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

Solidarity founder Lech Walesa and Pope John Paul II were the most responsible of anyone.

Without the Solidarity movement and a Polish poke, the collapse may not have happened or happened much, much later.

#4 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2024-09-08 03:32 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

Polish pope (no pun intended)

#5 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2024-09-08 03:35 AM | Reply

"Without the Solidarity movement and a Polish poke, the collapse may not have happened or happened much, much later."

This.

Poland showed the eastern bloc that it was possible to shake off the Soviet yoke. And once they did it, every other Soviet client state followed suit. Including, eventually, the Soviet Union itself.

#6 | Posted by madbomber at 2024-09-08 04:45 AM | Reply

Would Solidarity have been successful without Reagan? Would Reagan have been successful without Solidarity in Poland? How many blocks have to be removed before this Jenga line of thinking collapses?

#7 | Posted by visitor_ at 2024-09-08 01:31 PM | Reply | Funny: 1

Solidarity founder Lech Walesa and Pope John Paul II were the most responsible of anyone.

Pretty sure I helped win the Cold War, too.

But regardless of who "won" it. I have watched in horror and dismay as republicans give away any benefit we gained from it and even cozy up to and provide comfort and support to a brutal criminal dictatorship.

#8 | Posted by donnerboy at 2024-09-08 01:46 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

Reagan stood at the Brandenburg Gate and said "Tear Down This Wall". That was most of his contribution.

Gorbachev did most of the work.

#9 | Posted by Whatsleft at 2024-09-08 01:54 PM | Reply

Gorby also wanted a Northern European-style social democracy, but the Oligarchs found a low-level KBG dupe named Putin to implement their crony capitalism.

They mostly fear him now.

#10 | Posted by Corky at 2024-09-08 02:05 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

It is fascinating that republicl0wns embrace this idea that the US can just go around telling other countries how they need to conduct politics and economics... and they will comply... or else

We didn't win WW2 either... the Nazis just lost due to overwhelming resistance of which we played but a small part. Japan was already beaten when we dropped the bomb and scared the $#!t out of everyone ... including ourselves.

That bought us top dog position for about 5 years.

For all our bluster...half the people on the globe are living under either a communist or socialist economy...they comprise the oldest most densely populated regions on the planet...i.e. Asia... and the world's capitalists have formed a symbiotic relationship with them... to keep the peace.

Our military has fought one stalemate after another setting up businesses... installing dictators...to run the country.

Now that so few WW2 veterans remain... the kids are not buying all the myths we were told to justify our hegemony.

in a decade 8 out of 10 persons on the planet will be Asian.

kids today have a lot to work out...

#11 | Posted by RightisTrite at 2024-09-08 02:42 PM | Reply

Would Solidarity have been successful without Reagan? Would Reagan have been successful without Solidarity in Poland? How many blocks have to be removed before this Jenga line of thinking collapses?

Posted by visitor

Poland was solidly in the grip of the Soviet sphere. Solidarity was founded during Carter's administration, not Reagan's

Reagan had nothing to do with the rise of the Solidarity union/movement.

And, just so you don't have to crack open a history book, the Iron Curtain fell on GHW Bush's watch, not Reagan's.

#12 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2024-09-08 03:39 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

It started in 1980. But it's success was not guaranteed. Had Carter won a second term his weakness would have doomed it. Poland was under Soviet control due to FDR. Democrats have a soft spot for Stalin and the former Soviet union. Your Jenga version of history is simplistic.

#13 | Posted by visitor_ at 2024-09-08 05:11 PM | Reply | Funny: 2

- Democrats have a soft spot for Stalin and the former Soviet union.

lol... that's pretty ironic coming from a Putin/Trump totalitarians' corporate ball boy.

It was the Dem FDR that defeated Germany, in part by supporting Russia.

#14 | Posted by Corky at 2024-09-08 05:42 PM | Reply

FDR gave Stalin all of eastern Europe.

#15 | Posted by visitor_ at 2024-09-08 07:15 PM | Reply | Funny: 2

Reagan was Hezbollah's bitch.

#16 | Posted by reinheitsgebot at 2024-09-08 07:23 PM | Reply

Reagan stood at the Brandenburg Gate and said "Tear Down This Wall". That was most of his contribution.

Exactly! Every president since WW II put pressure on the Russian economy. That pressure created fissures in the Russian economy and society that led to the collapse of the wall. It just so happened that Reagan was president when the fissures became so large that the wall came tumbling down.

#17 | Posted by FedUpWithPols at 2024-09-08 07:26 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires."" John Steinbeck

#18 | Posted by Corky at 2024-09-08 08:02 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

FDR gave Stalin all of eastern Europe.
#15 | POSTED BY VISITOR_

Yea. But he got a wicked-------- in exchange.

#19 | Posted by ClownShack at 2024-09-08 09:23 PM | Reply

"Solidarity founder Lech Walesa and Pope John Paul II were the most responsible of anyone.

Without the Solidarity movement and a Polish poke, the collapse may not have happened or happened much, much later."

Exactly!

#20 | Posted by Wildman62 at 2024-09-08 09:28 PM | Reply

FDR gave Stalin all of eastern Europe.

#15 | Posted by visitor_ at 2024-09-08 07:15 PM | FLAG PFFFTTTT

How did FDR give Stalin Eastern Europe?

Hitler is who brought Eastern Europe together in opposition to Naziism. Stalin just provided leadership. 17 million died fighting Nazi expansion. US post-war ego-tripping over the bomb sealed the deal.

FDR was understandably reluctant to get our military involved in another ground war on foreign soil. We get our @$$e$ kicked when we do that. Before antibiotics, more people died while training for war than on the battlefield.

Then you got a pandemic that was spread via soldiers living on crowded bases... further gutting a generation of working-age adult males. Then came the Great Depression.

#21 | Posted by RightisTrite at 2024-09-09 04:55 AM | Reply

"Democrats have a soft spot for Stalin and the former Soviet union. Your Jenga version of history is simplistic."

So is yours. FDR ackmowledged thr Sovirts contribution to the defeat og Nazi Germany. You wave an American flag and think we did it alone which is, of corse, very stupid!

#22 | Posted by danni at 2024-09-09 04:57 AM | Reply

#15
Have you been getting by on a gentleman/gentlewoman "C" all this time?

#23 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2024-09-09 05:46 AM | Reply

Solidarity founder Lech Walesa and Pope John Paul II were the most responsible of anyone.

Americans really have no idea what's going on.

In September 1981, Solidarity elected Walesa as its president. In October, state security forces attempted to poison Walentynowicz. In November, the government declared martial law, possibly to forestall a Soviet intervention, though this remains debated. Over the next few years, Walentynowicz would serve a bunch of time in detention camps. Nine workers were killed protesting at a coal mine in December. In 1982, another wave of mass demonstrations led to more workers dying. The CIA got involved at this point and funneled money to Solidarity.
www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com

Who was President when the CIA got involved?

Without the West's pressure, there's absolutely no way Walesa and Solidarity survives.

I don't understand why the West continues to tear down its heros

#24 | Posted by oneironaut at 2024-09-09 07:57 AM | Reply

FDR gave Stalin all of eastern Europe.

#15 | Posted by visitor

Eastern Europe was occupied by massive Soviet armies.

That's, like, one of the most elemental facts of World War II.

Maybe you think Stalin gave FDR all of western Europe?

#25 | Posted by Zed at 2024-09-09 08:06 AM | Reply

#15 | Posted by visitor

You people rape history to make it fit into your narrative.

#26 | Posted by Zed at 2024-09-09 09:30 AM | Reply

I think most reasonable thinking people can easily accept the steps taken to end/win the cold war were taken years and years prior to Reagan's 2 terms.

Everyone else? the folks who attempt to keep score?

let them-------- with their pom poms.

They outed themselves quite obviously on this thread

#27 | Posted by eberly at 2024-09-09 09:59 AM | Reply

Actually we could credit FDR and Carter. FDR for capitulation to Stalin which created the conditions that started the cold war. Carter for his weakness which allowed a strong president like Reagan to assume the presidency.

#28 | Posted by visitor_ at 2024-09-09 12:39 PM | Reply

It just so happened that Reagan was president when the fissures became so large that the wall came tumbling down.

#17 | Posted by FedUpWithPols

Actually, the Berlin Wall fell on 9 November 1989 under George HW Bush.

#29 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2024-09-09 12:43 PM | Reply

#29 Facts don't matter to lefties.

#30 | Posted by visitor_ at 2024-09-09 12:48 PM | Reply | Funny: 2

#30 | POSTED BY VISITOR

Maybe you think Stalin gave FDR all of western Europe?

#31 | Posted by Zed at 2024-09-09 01:00 PM | Reply

#30

via GIPHY

#32 | Posted by Nixon at 2024-09-09 01:12 PM | Reply

I had a Poli sci professor that was a Soviet expert. No one here has established their history professor credentials, Ill just leave it at that. One story he told was about a nail factory that was one ton short on their annual quota. Do they made a nail that weighed a ton. Don't think any U S. President was responsible for stuff like that.

#33 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2024-09-09 01:13 PM | Reply

Hezbollah made Reagan cut and run.

#34 | Posted by reinheitsgebot at 2024-09-09 01:21 PM | Reply