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The Unknown War: The defeat of communism 20 years ago was the most liberating moment in history...
Reason ^ | November 2009 | Matt Welch

Posted on 10/17/2009 1:58:43 PM PDT by neverdem

The defeat of communism 20 years ago was the most liberating moment in history. So why don't we talk about it more?

On August 23, 1989, officials from the newly reformed and soon-to-be-renamed Communist Party of Hungary ceased policing the country's militarized border with Austria. Some 13,000 East Germans, many of whom had been vacationing at nearby Lake Balaton, fled across the frontier to the free world. It was the largest breach of the Iron Curtain in a generation, and it kicked off a remarkable chain of events that ended 11 weeks later with the righteous citizen dismantling of the Berlin Wall...

(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Germany; Politics/Elections; Russia
KEYWORDS: anniversary; berlinwall; coldwar; communism; eastgermany; reaganlegacy; ussr
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1 posted on 10/17/2009 1:58:43 PM PDT by neverdem
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To: neverdem

....but no Nobel Peace Prize to the most deserving soul.


2 posted on 10/17/2009 2:01:49 PM PDT by Parley Baer
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To: neverdem

That’s one way to look at it. On the other hand, it seems more and more like the “defeat” of communism helped defang it and make it more attractive to many. With that barrier removed, those with communist sympathies were free to hijack other movements, like the Environmentalist cause. It seems like the communists have a lot more influence here in the West now than they could ever have achieved during the Cold War.


3 posted on 10/17/2009 2:04:15 PM PDT by rbg81 (DRAIN THE SWAMP!!)
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To: neverdem

I’m sorry but anyone who thinks communism was defeated
has not been paying attention.


4 posted on 10/17/2009 2:06:31 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: neverdem

Now we have to defeat it again in this country in our own so-called “Democratic” party. The Soviet Union fell, but now we have a Soviet party to deal with in this country.


5 posted on 10/17/2009 2:07:24 PM PDT by VRWCRick
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To: rbg81; Parley Baer

I dare say that our electing a Communist - not Socialist - to POTUS, the once greatest superpower in the world, is proof Communism is not defeated. Several items on Obama’s agenda are way past Socialism.


6 posted on 10/17/2009 2:08:37 PM PDT by DBCJR (What would you expect?)
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To: Parley Baer

The Nobel “Peace” Prize is awarded by commies who define “peace” by the Soviet definition: an absence of resistance to the spread of communism.
Why would they award anything to Reagan who defeated communism?


7 posted on 10/17/2009 2:08:59 PM PDT by Little Ray (Obama is a kamikaze president aimed at the heart of this Republic.)
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To: neverdem

bookmark.


8 posted on 10/17/2009 2:09:22 PM PDT by IrishCatholic (No local Communist or Socialist Party Chapter? Join the Democrats, it's the same thing!)
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To: VRWCRick

See post # 6. I totally agree. We have a Communist POTUS.


9 posted on 10/17/2009 2:09:55 PM PDT by DBCJR (What would you expect?)
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To: neverdem
Does anyone have a good history of those few months around the Fall of the Berlin Wall? By now historians should have had time to go through the papers and decision making process of the Eastern European governments during that last year about why they let the people go free instead of machine gunning them at the border as they would have before.
10 posted on 10/17/2009 2:11:07 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (Soon everyone will win a Nobel Peace Prize for not being George Bush...well, except for George Bush.)
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To: neverdem

Defeat of Communism? That’s exactly what we have in the US White House today!


11 posted on 10/17/2009 2:12:07 PM PDT by EDINVA (Obama CAN'T see the Olympics from his back porch !)
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To: neverdem
Ironically, the one consistent lesson U.S. officials claim to have learned about the Cold War is the one that has the least applicability outside the East Bloc: that aggressive and even violent confrontation with evil regimes will lead to various springtimes for democracy. It is telling that the victors of an epic economic and spiritual struggle take away conclusions that are primarily military. Telling, and tragic.
It's generally a good article but this last paragraph is extremely confusing.

If anyone feels like taking the effort of a much-needed re-write...

12 posted on 10/17/2009 2:12:40 PM PDT by samtheman
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To: neverdem
So why don't we talk about it more?

Because the victor of the Cold War has an "(R)" after his name.

13 posted on 10/17/2009 2:12:50 PM PDT by matt1234
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To: neverdem

I understand zero is going to go to the 20th anniversary of the wall coming down. I wonder how he will manage to take credit for it. I also wonder if Mrs zero will take her fleet of aircraft over a few days early to get in a little shopping.


14 posted on 10/17/2009 2:12:53 PM PDT by taillightchaser (When a democrat says "The American people" you know the next words out of his mouth will be lies.)
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To: tet68

Evil’s final day is when Jesus returns. The Bible is telling us the truth.


15 posted on 10/17/2009 2:15:06 PM PDT by bmwcyle (We need more Joe Wilson's. OBAMA is ACORN ACORN is OBAMA)
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To: neverdem

” The defeat of communism 20 years ago was the most liberating moment in history...”

It wasn’t defeated; it moved headquarters to Washington.


16 posted on 10/17/2009 2:17:37 PM PDT by RoadTest ( But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do)
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To: tet68

I agree. It was a liberating event, but our victory was absolutely squandered. 20 years later, and we’re living in an era that might reasonably be called The Totalitarian Moment.


17 posted on 10/17/2009 2:23:56 PM PDT by upstanding
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To: tet68
"I’m sorry but anyone who thinks communism was defeated has not been paying attention."

I couldn't agree more.

18 posted on 10/17/2009 2:25:57 PM PDT by VR-21 (There was a rush, along the Fulham Road....)
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To: neverdem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIeics8jHUY

Part 1 of 14 on “The Bloody History of Communism.”


19 posted on 10/17/2009 2:31:17 PM PDT by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast ( If you have kids, you have no right of privacy that the govt can't flick off your shoulder.)
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To: upstanding

If communism was defeated why isn’t china a free democratic
republic now? We have been infiltrated since the early thirties to the point where American political philosophy
has no meaning except in the hearts of a few who remember
it as it was.
It has gotten to the point that Marxists sit in the very
seat of power.


20 posted on 10/17/2009 2:31:42 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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