🚀 go-pugleaf

"Henrietta K Thomas" <hkt@xnet.com> wrote in message
news:e19rc0ps7mcl2su4m1gc9hicn4rt7e3ifu@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 13 Jun 2004 08:17:31 GMT, "alohacyberian" <alohacyberian@att.net>
wrote:
> >"daeron" <daeron@some.net> wrote in message
> >news:40caf312$0$14388$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
> <...>
> >>  I was refering to the fact that nobody had realized
> >> how close the USSR had been to cracking, which
> >> is the only shame because had the DoS been given
> >> the info to predict it then extensive tentative plans
> >> could have been made to help stabilize the region
> >> (in every sense of the world, economic, political,
> >> weapon control, nuclear & biological material controls).
> >>
> >Lech Walesa, Pope John Paul II, Mikhail Gorbachev
> >and Ronald Reagan knew perfectly well that the Soviet
> >Union was on tenterhooks. I recommend the book
> >_Lenin's Tomb: the Last Days of the Soviet Empire _ by
> >David Remick, a Leftwing Liberal journalist at the
> > _Washington Post_. KM
>
> You left out Andropov.  It was he who first saw the
> handwriting on the wall and gave Gorbachev full
> authority to investigate to see what could be done.
> But neither Andropov nor Gorbachev nor Lech Walesa
> nor even the Pope could have given DoS the information.
> Only Ronald Reagan could do that.  He chose not to and
> apparently preferred to let the chips fall where they may.
>
> >Credit where credit is due: Ronald Reagan won the
> >Cold War and brought about >the demise of the Soviet
> >Union. KM
>
> Sorry, I disagree.  Reagan, IMO, gets credit only for
> reaching out to Gorbachev and treating him like a
> human being, while Bush Sr. gets credit for rudely
> pushing Gorbachev aside in his haste to declare
> victory.  The lion's share of the credit for ending the
> cold war goes to Gorbachev, IMO.  Had he not been
> there, all Reagan's efforts would probably have been
> for naught.
>
> YMMV
>

Yes, I must admit I did overlook Yuri Andropov as indicated in the works of
Pavel Sudoplatov and David Remick. While I personally give more credit to
Ronald Reagan than to Mikhail Gorbachev, I think you have a point well taken
and perhaps I could be persuaded to your belief given more time to consider
the position and a more thorough knowledge of Mikhail Gorbachev whom I
consider to be one of the giants in Soviet and Russian history though he's
been given short shrift by Western academe and media. His impact on every
citizen in Russia and the former Soviet Union is incalculable. The actions of
Ronald Reagan in no way diminish the stature of Gorbachev and vice-versa. KM
-- 
(-:alohacyberian:-)  At my website there are 3000 live cameras or
visit NASA, play games, read jokes, send greeting cards & connect
to CNN news, NBA, the White House, Academy Awards or learn all
about Hawaii, Israel and more: http://keith.martin.home.att.net/