Thank you President Reagan.
Btt
The soviets pretty much bankrupted themselves
Chernobyl was very very expensive and I believe it was the final nail in the coffin of soviet communism
Reagan’s strategy was simple. Make the Soviets try to keep up with his military expansion until their economy collapsed.
DOD spent several billion studying one Soviet military system. In 1994 a Soviet Colonel sold a complete system to a US Army Captain in W. Berlin for just enough to get his regiment home to Moscow. The Soviet army could not even afford to feed his men.
Let’s not forget Jesus consorting with prostitutes and tax collectors.
And we shall undoubtedly see history repeat itself here.
I remember all to well how he was to damn stupid to meet with Gorbachev. He got out of his limo in a suit and tie.
Gorby on the other hand had a very heavy overcoat.
Reagan told him in no uncertain terms we are moving ahead with space defense.
The left was riled.
They hate this nation.
RR explained how he needed to get home and have dinner with Nancy.
Not exactly apples to apples, but your point is taken.
Gotta start somewhere.
Even Reagan’s skeptics inside his administration, most notably George Schultz, were totally won over within a year. Schultz, in an internal National Security meeting that I found in my research for “Reagan: The American President,” told Dutch as they prepped for Geneva, that a number of supposedly recent concessions by Gorbachev were ALL due to Reagan hanging tough in Reykjavik: “You won those at Reykjavik, Mr. President!” Schultz said in awe.
Reagan's strategy to undermine the Soviet economy was:
1) acces to Western capital markets was made more difficult
2) export controls on sensitive technology was tightened
3) some of the technology that the Soviets were able to acquire illegally or steal was out of date or booby trapped.