From: Dehede011@aol.com
Date: Thu Aug 01 2002 - 11:45:22 MDT
In a message dated 8/1/2002 12:31:12 PM Central Standard Time, jonkc@att.net
writes: The USSR went bankrupt because their ideology forced them to stay
with a inefficient and corrupt economic system that had no self correcting
mechanism, so it kept getting worse. We can't take credit, it collapsed from
within.
John,
I live in the midst of a bunch of Russian immigrants from that period
and the majority opinion among them seems to go against you. The situation
is a little more complex than you presented it but yes SDI did play a
discernable role.
The truth seems to be that Reagan believed early on that the Soviet
was standing because we were proping it up. After study he campaigned to cut
off as much of their access to international cash as possible, he went
specifically after the money they needed to finance the pipeline they needed
to raise hard currency from sales to Europe, he looked for other ways to
stretch them, he began the build up to the 500 ship Navy, I can't recall what
he did in respect to our Army & Air Force, and he initiated the SDI. His
plan was simple. He cut off as much international money as he could and then
he used the arms race to increase the amount of spending they required. But
it wasn't just arms, it was also the need to advance technically in
computers, machine tools and all the high tech that a modern economy requires.
Like I indicated the Soviet man in the street seems to understand this
perfectly well. But you are absolutely right about one thing, in the end
they fell of their own weight. That was Reagan's goal.
Ron h.
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