Posted on 11/03/2009 6:56:43 PM PST by james500
The 20th anniversary of the 1989 East European revolutions has re-opened contentious debate over who won the Cold War and what caused Soviet communism to disintegrate so rapidly in its final years. The fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 was a symbolic milestone, heralding the break-up of the Soviet Union two years later. Looking back, many people directly involved are still asking: Was Soviet communism defeated? Was it overthrown? Or did it simply collapse from within?
The rapid succession of events which marked the end of the Cold War is not in dispute. Poland's historic roundtable talks between the banned Solidarity trade union and the ruling Communist Party took place in the spring of 1989.
...
...arguing that the U.S. military buildup and moral leadership under Mr. Reagan actually won the Cold War.
Helle Dale is a foreign affairs specialist at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
"The critical importance of American leadership … happened through military deterrence of the Soviet Union … and it also happened through the power of international broadcasting and public diplomacy from the United States that carried on the ideological fight behind the Iron Curtain," Dale said.
But [former high-ranking Clinton administration official] Nye tells VOA that while the power of U.S. ideas and its ability "to deter Soviet aggression" are essential to understanding the end of the Cold War, neither are root causes.
"The collapse of Soviet communism … was a process of erosion … I think to call it defeat creates too much of an impression that it was from the outside. I think a good deal of what happened was from the inside."
Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the debate continues. The definitive history of the Cold War's end clearly has yet to be written.
(Excerpt) Read more at voanews.com ...
Ronald Reagan, the Pope and Lech Walesa won the Cold War.
Georgie Bush I lost the peace that followed.
Who won the cold war???? Ronald Reagan.
With a communist POTUS and the rise of Red China one has to wonder.
Like there’s any real question that Reagan and the choices he made, the policies he persued, wasn’t the cause...
The debate rages because the liberals don’t want to give credit to Ronald Reagan. The debate rages because the liberals don’t want to give credit to Pope John Paul II for his role in hastening the fall of communism.
The liberals unwaveringly heap praise upon Nelson Mandela for his role in the fall of apartheid in South Africa, but give short shrift to the roles of people such as Reagan and Pope John Paul in the fall of communism. Go figure.
Margaret Thatcher played a significant role.
...should have added Maggie Thatcher with a nod to Lech Walesa.
The definitive history of the Cold War’s end clearly has yet to be written.
No sh&t sherlock, that’s because the Cold War never ended.
Communists tried to kill me, now they are taking over
my government. The war has just begun.
Snowiss goes on for 25 paragraphs before talking about President Reagan and then it’s only to knock him down with a Clinton official in order to drive home his point at the end.
Who won the Cold War?
Those unnamed men and women who served in lonely outposts in the arctic. Those who walked the fence line between the two Germany’s. Those who repaired and kept B-52s aloft and served around the globe on and under the oceans in our Navy.
That’s who won the Cold War. The men and women who served during so called peacetime in all of our Military.
http://rightinaleftworld.blogspot.com/2009/11/unsung-heroes-that-won-cold-war.html
Who won the Cold War?
Those unnamed men and women who served in lonely outposts in the arctic. Those who walked the fence line between the two Germany’s. Those who repaired and kept B-52s aloft and served around the globe on and under the oceans in our Navy.
That’s who won the Cold War. The men and women who served during so called peacetime in all of our Military.
http://rightinaleftworld.blogspot.com/2009/11/unsung-heroes-that-won-cold-war.html
Right. Forgot her.
She is a great lady.
Knowledge is a heavy burden when witnessing history being rewritten by those who hate America, such as the so-called VOA. Reagan America, and Lech Walesa created the conditions that brought down the Wall. No question, I was there.
Let’s see. Both the US and Russia currently have communist thugs in their top office.
Reagan, Thatcher, Walesa, and the Pope stood up to the communists. Not giving them credit is like not giving credit to Roosevelt and Churchill in winning World War II.
Please see post #15. In the Cold War, Britain (Maggie) and America (Ronnie) were joined at the hip, as was their inteligence agencies, GCHQ and the NSA. They shared information that helped Ronnie in the execution of bringing the Wall down.
I don’t know, I kinda think that tearing down the wall allowed them to get out here! (I’m being facetious, of course).
Why are these causes thought to be mutually exclusive?
There is truth in both. Communism is essentially a failed system of government. Sooner or later it will collapse. But it can take a long time and untold suffering; in this case, 70 years.
But there’s also no question that Reagan, PJP II, and Walesa working together brought it down. Without their resolute opposition and cooperation it would likely have gone on a lot longer, spreading its poison still further around the world. And if the liberals had had their way, it likely would still be around now.
Um, the debate ended in November, 2008 when the Communists won the Cold War...;)
Right now, with Putin running a revived Russia and Obama running down a demoralized America, it looks a lot like the Russians won.
If the Russians nearly had their freedom and lost it again, they didn’t win.
As for Putie, well, he may be a KGB man deep down in side, but I sure as hell wish he was an American born capitalist. He would have made a far better President than the fraudulent cipher sitting in the Oval Office and you can be assured HE would never apologize to ANYONE - EVER.
My wife has a bag of plastic soldiers; “Good Ol’ USA vs Commies”, made in China.
Amazing.
We may have won the Cold War, but the Russians are winning Cold War II.
We know who won Cold War I, but the “Former” Soviet Union and its allies are winning Cold War II.
The thing is that we had a chance to make MAJOR changes in Russia through our diplomatic and military prowess. The problem is that Clinton decided to dither on the issue and allowed Yeltsin to mess things up over there, thus allowing the former Soviet structures and personalities to reassert themselves. There should have been trials for high ranking Soviet officials, and permanent bars on those within the KGB and high ranking Soviet officials and military officers from political and military service.
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