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Posted on 09/29/2004 11:03:04 PM PDT by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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REAGAN  The position that Ronald Reagan took was that in order to defeat communism the United States had to be strong militarily-wise. It was necessary to defend ourselves and to show the rest of the world that we could stand up to the Soviet Union. You remember that it was Joe Stalin, I believe, who said when referring to the Catholic Church and the Pope, "Where are his divisions?" Well, the communists had that attitude. If you weren't strong and if you couldn't stand up to them militarily, all the threats were to no avail. So Reagan was determined that the United States would have to have the forces to back up the rhetoric that he was using in trying to show the rest of the world that there was a way out of the dilemma of how to overcome this mighty Soviet Union.  At his first press conference as president, Ronald Reagan rendered a tough verdict on the policy of détente, calling it "a one-way street the Soviet Union has used to pursue its own aims." Reagan's message was unmistakable: The only way to deal with the Kremlin was from a position of strength. Immediately, he began a new phase of rearmament. He increased the defense budget by $32.6 billion. He approved production of the costly B-1 bomber, a project President Carter had scrapped. He expanded the size of the Navy. And new defense guidelines called for preparations to wage a nuclear war "over a protracted period."  The renewed arms race and Reagan's anti-Soviet rhetoric revived the anti-nuclear movement in Western Europe. Reagan was portrayed by a vocal minority of Americans and many Europeans as a warmonger. Yet, in truth, Reagan shared their antipathy for nuclear brinksmanship -- the policy known as "mutual assured destruction." HUMAN RIGHTS In the era of détente, the issue of human rights gained attention on both sides of the Iron Curtain. In 1975 in Helsinki, 35 nations -- including the United States and U.S.S.R. -- signed a declaration on human rights. Meanwhile, Czech dissidents secretly drew up Charter 77, a human rights document that was smuggled to the West. Activists in the communist bloc set up Helsinki Watch Committees to monitor and publicize abuses. But the Soviets did not feel bound by the Helsinki Accords and persecuted the dissidents, many of whom ended up in KGB prisons -- or in mental hospitals, where mind-control drugs were used to make them recant.  Anatoly (Natan) and Avital Scharansky phoning President Reagan from Ben-Gurion Airport to thank him for his part in Anatoly's release Jews were a distinctive group among the dissidents -- claiming the right to leave the Soviet Union. Many were refused exit visas and became known as refuseniks. Those who campaigned for their rights were often sent to forced labor camps for years. In 1979, the prominent refusenik Anatoly Sharansky was sentenced to 13 years for espionage and treason. Outside the court, supporters defiantly publicized his case to the Western media -- triggering forceful protests in the West. The evidence of human rights abuse inflamed anti-Soviet feeling in America. SALT II As Moscow and Washington clashed over human rights, they also stepped up negotiations for a new arms limitation treaty -- SALT II. One issue not on the SALT II agenda was the Soviets' decision to deploy the SS-20, a new medium-range nuclear missile that targeted Western Europe. West Germany and other NATO allies were alarmed. Instead of making the SS-20s an issue during the SALT II negotiations, the United States pursued a twin-track policy: America would develop its new generation of missiles and allow Moscow three years to negotiate limits on medium-range missiles. If no deal was reached, America would station its cruise and Pershing nuclear missiles in Europe -- and target Soviet cities. Fear of missiles in their backyard created a new mood of resistance among Western Europeans.  Between 1977 and 1987, the Soviet Union deployed 654 SS-20 missiles and 509 launchers in 48 Strategic Rocket Forces regiments By June 1979, the superpowers had agreed to new limits on strategic arms -- completing the SALT II treaty. Carter and Brezhnev met for the first time when they came to Vienna to sign the agreement. Soviets viewed the treaty as a way to limit arms production -- and improve their civilian economy. But in America, the pact was condemned by the political right for not imposing limits on the development of new weapons systems. Ultimately, SALT II would fail to gain congressional approval. TENSION In Moscow, Andropov responded defiantly to Reagan's "Star Wars" plan. "All attempts at achieving military superiority over the U.S.S.R. are futile," he said. Privately, however, Andropov was frightened by SDI and Reagan's anti-Soviet speeches. Convinced that the West was planning for war, Andropov ordered a worldwide alert. The KGB monitored every aspect of life in the West. The Americans stepped up spy flights in sensitive areas along the Soviet Union's long borders. Aircraft packed with electronic surveillance gear and disguised as civilian airliners often flew close to passenger routes.  On August 31, 1983, a South Korean airliner left Anchorage for Seoul. For reasons still unexplained, KAL Flight 007, with 269 people on board, ended up in Soviet air space, more than 300 miles from its normal route. After firing several warning tracer shots across the plane's bow, a Soviet fighter pilot downed the carrier, killing everyone on board. Reagan called the incident "an act of barbarism." GORBACHEV A mood of crisis now gripped both East and West. Arms control talks were broken off. The Soviet leadership even believed a nuclear attack by the West was imminent. Reagan was surprised when told the Kremlin seriously feared an American first-strike offensive. It was time, he told aides, for a face-to-face meeting with Soviet leaders.  Mikhail Gorbachev But to whom in the Kremlin could Reagan talk peace? In February 1984, Yuri Andropov died. His successor, Konstantin Chernenko, was too frail to start a dialogue and died a year later -- the third aged Soviet leader to die in three years. Party leaders knew the country needed new blood. They turned to 54-year-old reformer Mikhail Gorbachev -- who in a speech the year before had introduced the concepts of "perestroika" (restructuring) and "glasnost" (openness) to the Communist Party lexicon. At a party plenum to ratify his election by the Politburo, Gorbachev pledged to make the Soviet Union more democratic -- and announced his intention to stop the arms race. RAPPORT In November 1985, Gorbachev traveled to Geneva to meet with Reagan for the first superpower summit in six years.  At their first face-to-face meeting, the two leaders outlined their positions in adversarial terms -- arguing about regional conflicts and accusing each other of trying to divide the world. Gorbachev later told aides Reagan was not just a conservative, but "a political dinosaur." Later that day, the tenor of the dialogue changed. Though the two leaders remained divided by Reagan's "Star Wars" initiative, the atmosphere grew warmer -- they established a rapport. Gorbachev left Geneva without agreement on his main objective -- curbing the arms race -- but the United States and the Soviet Union were talking again. One year into the Gorbachev era the Cold War continued. The Geneva call for a second summit was repeatedly postponed. Fears of nuclear war remained. In April 1986, an explosion ripped apart a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine north of Kiev. The disaster highlighted the incompetence of the Soviet system. REYKJAVIK Six months after the Chernobyl disaster, Reagan and Gorbachev went to Reykjavik, Iceland, for their second summit. No one expected much of substance to emerge.  But over the next few days, the two leaders took a series of bold and unexpected steps aimed at reducing the threat of nuclear war. Gorbachev seized the initiative, winning Reagan's backing for a comprehensive set of reductions of strategic arms, intermediate-range missile and space weapons. Next, the two leaders agreed on the complete withdrawal of intermediate-range missiles in Europe and a 50 percent reduction in ballistic missiles over a five-year period. As the talks continued, Reagan and Gorbachev each raised the ante in their quest for arms reductions. Finally, Reagan stunned Gorbachev and his own advisers by offering to eliminate all nuclear weapons in 10 years, effectively abolishing the nuclear deterrent. But Gorbachev continued to press Reagan on "Star Wars." "Our meeting cannot produce one winner. We both either win or lose," he said. Reagan would not budge.  The summit ended without an agreement -- but each delegation realized the discussions had crossed a historic line. Gorbachev immediately went on the offense in saying that Reagan had broken up the meeting insisting upon SDI, giving his spin, as it were, to the outcome. And [Secretary of State George] Shultz talked for us and unfortunately the press didn't believe his story ... and it came across that we had been defeated. When in point of fact we had won, because we now know that Gorbachev went home and although he was saying one thing, his mind was telling him: It's all over for the Soviet Union.  In 1987, Reagan and Gorbachev met in Washington to sign the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty -- eliminating an entire class of U.S. and Soviet nuclear arms for Eastern and Western Europe. Reagan's defense of "Star Wars" prevented further progress in arms talks for the remainder of his presidency. Nevertheless, two leaders a generation apart had brought their two countries closer then they had been in 40 years.
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FIRST CRACK
In December 1988, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev met with outgoing U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his successor, George Bush. Gorbachev had decided that the Cold War must end -- and that Soviet control over the Communist bloc nations must be loosened. He told the peoples of Eastern Europe that they had the right of self-determination. But his listeners -- including those in the United States -- were skeptical of the Soviet response if non-Communist leaders were elected.
Hungarian reforms included the rehabilitation of the 1956 uprising's leaders. Executed leader Imre Nagy and his comrades were given a public funeral, and the government declared the revolution justified. A month earlier, the Hungarian government made an even bolder move, taking down the barbed wire on its border with Austria and the West. The Soviet Union did nothing. Although travel was still not completely free, the Iron Curtain was starting to unravel.
POLAND
The Poles, like the Hungarians, were breaking with the communist system. Faced with a wave of political strikes led by the Solidarity opposition movement, the communist regime had given way. In early 1989, government leaders opened talks with Solidarity and were prepared to share power and discuss a shift toward democracy.
At about the same time, U.S. President Bush visited Poland and Hungary, giving them moral support for democratic change -- but little else. Back in the United States, Bush's secretary of state, James Baker, assured his Soviet counterpart, Eduard Shevardnadze, that the West would tread carefully in Eastern Europe and not exploit Soviet problems there.
EXODUS
In East Germany, Erich Honecker refused to admit there was anything wrong with his system -- but in reality, the country was rotting away. Pollution poisoned the air and water. The economy was running down. The police state provoked mass suspicion and stifled all initiative.
In Berlin, Honecker called the refugees moral outcasts and blocked further travel to Hungary. Desperate, the fleeing East Germans turned to Czechoslovakia -- and gathered at the West German Embassy in Prague. Refugees crammed themselves into the embassy and refused to leave -- until, under Soviet and West German pressure, Honecker consented to a face-saving deal: The refugees could go to West Germany, but only if their train crossed East German territory first. Then Honecker could claim he had expelled them and canceled their citizenship.
PROTEST
Some East Germans chose to stay and protest. Inspired by Gorbachev, they dreamed of turning their country into a democracy. Weekly demonstrations in Leipzig soon swelled into mass protests. Police tried to stop them, but the government was losing its nerve.
Only Honecker seemed confident of his country's future. As he welcomed Gorbachev to Berlin on the eve of East Germany's 40th anniversary in October 1989, he pretended not to notice when a group of communist youth marchers dropped their rehearsed slogans and began to chant "Gorby, save us!"
TURNING POINT
A protest rally was planned for two days later in Leipzig. The East German army was on alert, and the city was in a state of emergency. As the demonstration began, 70,000 people were on the streets. Alarmed, the Soviet ambassador telephoned the commander of Soviet forces in the region -- and ordered them not to interfere. Local Communist Party leaders begged the opposition to talk. Then, without higher orders, officials pulled back the police and troops. The demonstration went off peacefully. For East Germans, this was the turning point.
REUNION
With street protests mounting, and thousands of people fleeing the country daily, East Germany was on the verge of disintegration. On November 9, East German Politburo member Gunter Schabowski told journalists in Berlin that restrictions on travel to the West would be lifted. The government meant the change to start the next day. But Schabowski mistook the timing -- and told reporters the change was immediate. The news flashed around the city. East Berliners rushed to see if the checkpoints in the Wall were really opening. Borders guards were baffled. They had only one order -- to stop anyone trying to escape. But the crowds were huge. Suddenly, the guards gave in and opened the barriers.
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grove.ufl.edu
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alum.mit.edu
news.bbc.co.uk
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www.cia.gov
www.geographic.org
| In 1981, Ronald Reagan -- a strident Cold Warrior -- enters the White House on a platform of "making America strong again." Convinced the United States is lagging in the arms race, Reagan increases defense spending and proposes a "Star Wars" anti-missile system -- alarming leaders in Moscow. For nearly three decades, the Berlin Wall symbolized the Iron Curtain that separated East from West. But by 1989, the Wall was starting to crumble -- and by the end of the year it would collapse. It is the twilight of the Soviet empire. With the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Kremlin loses its iron-fisted grip on Eastern Europe. As events spiral out of control, Mikhail Gorbachev finds his authority challenged from within -- both from communist hard-liners, and from a popular reformer named Boris Yeltsin. |
Good Night, Snippy. Another busy day coming up tomorrow. Hopefully some of our phone calls we get returned.
Good night Sam. I think being busy has become our way of life. :-)
WE are Rightists here at the Foxhole. Rightists are all those who fight the Left's monsters, Lenin, Stalin, and - Hitler. Pol Pot. The Marquis de Sade. The group that organized the war of 1861-65.
Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Foxhole.
Read: Psalm 119:129-136
The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. —Psalm 119:130
Bible In One Year: Isaiah 9-10; Ephesians 3
After a woman sued a fast-food restaurant for being burned by coffee, companies started changing their manuals and warning labels. Check out these instructions:
If some people need these obvious guidelines on household items, think about how much more we need God's direction. Psalm 119 tells of the importance of His instruction manual—the Bible. On the pages of Scripture we find what God wants us to believe, to be, and to do.
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31).
"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32).
"Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15).
Ask the Lord to teach you His statutes and to direct your steps according to His Word (Psalm 119:133,135). Then read it often and follow the instructions. —Anne Cetas
In 1981 the CIA discovered that the Soviet Union was pillaging American (and other Western) technology at an alarming rate, starting way back in 1970. They were using stolen foreign technology to bolster their own weapons programs and other strategic initiatives. This program was called “Line X”, and it was described in detail in a report called “The Farewell Dossier”. “Farewell“, it turns out, was a 53-year-old Russian engineer assigned to evaluate the stolen technologies acquired by Line X. However, Farewell was actually spying for the French, and was reporting everything to the French intelligence agency. France's Prime Minister at the time turned over the Dossier to the CIA, who then presented it to a horrified Ronald Reagan. The Dossier included some 4000 documents on stolen technology, and the names of over 200 Line X operatives actively stealing foreign technology for the Soviet Union.
The Dossier also included a shopping list of technologies the Russians were especially interested in. And this, my friends, is where the story really gets interesting.
In early 1982, the CIA proposed an operation to slip buggy software and other subtly flawed technologies to the eager Russians. With “Farewell“ in place to give the buggy software the thumbs up, the Soviets were none the wiser. The systems would work for a while and then fail. The operation was incredibly successful, and the Soviets gobbled up all the technology they could get their hands on, not realizing it was all programmed for failure. The best example of the operation was the theft of Canadian computer control systems that were designed to control parts of large gas pipelines. The CIA arranged for Line X operatives to “steal“ the software and use it in the large trans-Siberian pipeline project that was key to the Soviet Union's plans to sell gas exports to Eastern Europe. Unbeknownst to the Soviets, the CIA had planted a Trojan into the software, causing it to malfunction in a very violent manner after it was in use for a period of time. The resulting explosion of the gas pipeline in 1982 was the largest non-nuclear explosion ever seen from space at the time, and it was the direct result of this trojaned software. By the time the Soviets realized they had been stealing flawed software and other technology, it was so widespread that they had no idea what technology was valid and what was bogus. “The heart of Soviet technology crumbled, and would never recover,” wrote Gus Weiss, an economist who helped devise the plan, in a paper on the subject published in the 1996 edition of Study in Intelligence, a periodic journal published by the CIA.
So, was this crude early version of cyberwarfare responsible for the downfall of the Soviet Union? It could be argued that the lost revenue from the catastrophic failure of the Siberian gas line certainly put a crimp on Soviet gas exports to Eastern Europe. It's also certain that the loss of faith in a large portion of their technology was also a contributing factor to the eventual bankruptcy of the Soviet government. How much this operation contributed to the eventual downfall of the Soviet Union may never be fully understood, but it certainly had an impact.
By the way, Col. Vladimir Vetrov, aka “Farewell”, was exposed as a spy in 1983 and promptly executed by the KGB for his part in the operation.
See also: The Farewell Dossier at the CIA website.
Present!
Woo Hoo PE!!
Great Flag-o-gram!! Thank You.
Good Morning Aeronaut.
Good obeservation.
When Reagan wouldn't "negotiate" away SDI, the smart Soviets knew the end was coming.
Hi Sam.
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