Loxd4

Im all for the USA in winning? But how did we really win? Everyone I talk to said it was because of the nuclear arms race....but i beg to differ...they can be that stupid to keep on making nuclear weapons when there about to go bankrupt....Ok 1/2 way in the cold war we both had enough nuclear and bio weapons to desroy the earth 2 times over....At the end of the war they had enought to destroy it 4 times over...why did the SSR keep on building weapons of mass destruction.....i know they had civil wars but thats not why they lost right??? They could have stop building weapon 1/2 way through the war and took some other country over and build there power but instead they died(SSR)???What were the factors of we winning the cold war???

M14 Shooter

The US won the cold war by forcing the USSR to spend to much time and so many resources on trying to keep up with us militarily that they bankrupted themselves and were not able to provide for their people.

Many will corrcectly argue that they would have bankrupted themselves eventually anyway - but forcing them to spend spend spend only hastened the event.

__________________
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Simon W. Moon

The question becomes, how was the USSR both required to expend resources and how was it restricted from gaining resources.

As a general rule, opression is less efficient than liberty. W/ opression, not only do you have to have someone to do waht needs to be done, they must also have a watchman to keep them from deviating. Then, often, the watchman needs some watching.

__________________
"That is the problem... [we] fell in love with the idea that politicians-- even the slickest and brightest presidential candidates-- were real heroes and truly exciting people. That is wrong on its face. They are mainly dull people with corrupt instincts and criminal children. -H.S.T"

M14 Shooter

Indeed. And a free market is always more productive than a command ecomomy-- the US was able to outpace the USSR militarily while also prodcing huge amounts of consumer goods.

robin

I don't think the US played much part in the end to the cold war.
It was more to do with Gorbachov's Glasnost & Perestroika, or can't the average American, needing instead to believe it was down to Mr Raygun's efforts, accept that ?
I don't agree the arms race & some perceived lack of the Soviet's being unable to keep up in the arms race, brought this about. They had the capacity to destoy the USA many times over. What difference does it make at that point whether it's 20 times over or 50 times over ?
When you're dead you're dead !

M14 Shooter

Why did Gorby introduce Glasnost & Perestroika?
Hint: It wasnt because he was a Jeffersonian liberal.

robin

Why do you Americans feel the need to take credit for everything that is positive ?
It's a little arrogant you know
Gorbi could see strict communism mean't poverty. The Russian economy was in dire straights... has it ever been anything else under communism, plain & simple. He wasn't one of the old Russian conservative hawks like Cheney... uh sorry.. Breschnev I mean.
He realised it was time for big changes. Is that too simple to grasp ?
Let me explain...
RONALD REAGUN CAN TAKE NO CREDIT WHATSOEVER FOR THE ENDING OF THE COLD WAR !
Got that !

M14 Shooter

And why do you non-Americans balk at giving America the credit she is due?

And -why- was that?
Did that have -anything- to do with their spending on the cold war?

Big changes, brought in as a desperate attempt to save the Soviet state from collapse...
...a collapse hastened by the fact that the Soviet economy simply could not compete with ours, on any level.

BS. Reagan kicked in the door of a shaky house, and it collapsed.

Simon W. Moon

First off, I have serious doubts that there's any single thing that can be pointed to as the main cause of the USSR's fall. Many things all came together in their own idiosyncratic ways to bring about the history that happened.

Second, there's more to an arms race than merely buying more nukes.

robin

I give US credit where credit due. It simply is not due in this instance.
The Soviets had been spending on the cold war for 45 years so
Q)what was new or different in the 80's ?
A)It was the Gorbi factor that was new & not present before.

Yes but again I say the Communist economy hadn't been able to compete with yours for many decades so..
Q)what was new & not present before ?
A)It was the Gorbi factor that was new & not present before.
Again I say the USA had had the capability to destroy the Soviet Union many times over & vica versa for the previous 40 years so what was so special about Reagun's kicking then ?
It was nothing new & the as I've said, Gorbi brought about economic changes for economic reasons... not military ones. After all, they could destroy the US many times over so what did they have to fear militarily ?
We all know SDI was based on pseudo science cooked up by defense contracters that sponsored Reagun & were terrified of the peace scare that Gorbi had innitiated or tried to at Reyjavic except Reagun scuppered the talks.
I'm afraid M14 you've been thoroughly propagandised by Fox News I pressume.

Just one other thing.. why don't you put a picture of a nice fast car or bike or a lovely guitar or a beautiful woman or something for your avatar instead of a killing machine ?
Do you have a small penis or something ?