$98 per barrel oil

Wolfgang Schwanke wrote:
"Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net wrote in
:

The situation was symmetrical, i.e. from their POV the
Warsaw Pact thought they were "protecting" themselves from an
imminent attack by NATO.

Really, you think so?

See for example "Able Archer" 1983

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83

It was a NATO military exercise, but the Soviets misinterpreted it as
a camouflaged preparation for a nuclear attack by the west on them!
They would never have had the idea if they'd thought the west was
merely defending itself.

I love revisionist history.

Reality isn't black and white. Both sides were wrestling with each
other for territory worldwide. There were hawks and doves on both
sides, and strategists on both sides thought of themselves as "the
better one". This is not an excuse of communist dictatorships BTW.

Regards


Yes, the Reagan administration did an excellent job of screwing with the
USSR's head. It one of the reasons there is no longer a wall dividing your
country and no longer a USSR.

"Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net wrote in
:

Wolfgang Schwanke wrote:
"Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net wrote in
:

The situation was symmetrical, i.e. from their POV the
Warsaw Pact thought they were "protecting" themselves from an
imminent attack by NATO.

Really, you think so?

See for example "Able Archer" 1983

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83

It was a NATO military exercise, but the Soviets misinterpreted it as
a camouflaged preparation for a nuclear attack by the west on them!
They would never have had the idea if they'd thought the west was
merely defending itself.

I love revisionist history.

Reality isn't black and white. Both sides were wrestling with each
other for territory worldwide. There were hawks and doves on both
sides, and strategists on both sides thought of themselves as "the
better one". This is not an excuse of communist dictatorships BTW.

Regards


Yes, the Reagan administration did an excellent job of screwing with
the USSR's head. It one of the reasons there is no longer a wall
dividing your country and no longer a USSR.


No, it isn't.



Bertie

I always thought it was the people of Eastern Europe overthrowing their
communist governments, combined with the fact that a slightly more
enlightened Soviet leader didn't send out the tanks, as his
predecessors had always done in similar situations. Of course I'm
brainwashed by the European media.

And why, pray tell, do you think the Soviets didn't roll the tanks
into Warsaw and Berlin? Do you really think it's cuz Gorbachev was
such a "nice guy"?

Honestly, I can't believe what some people pass off as "history"
nowadays. Soon we'll hear that Hitler invaded France to help the
transit worker's union...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

This documentary is quite a good summary of the cold war era:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/078062386X/

A CNN production, a rather mainstream non-European source.

Just an FYI: CNN isn't considered to be unbiased by many Americans.
They are to the Left what Fox News is to the Right, politically.

(Somewhere in the middle is probably the "Truth" -- although I'm
partial to National Public Radio meself...)

Unfortunately VHS and rather expensive.

Holy crap, $175? You're not kidding...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote in news:f227c8da-1bca-4f82-8c01-
:

This documentary is quite a good summary of the cold war era:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/078062386X/

A CNN production, a rather mainstream non-European source.

Just an FYI: CNN isn't considered to be unbiased by many Americans.
They are to the Left what Fox News is to the Right, politically.


No they aren't actually.



Bertie

Wolfgang Schwanke wrote:


Insight into their own failures and economic exhaustion played a part.

And other than a economic system that can't work what do you think caused
that economic exhaustion?



This documentary is quite a good summary of the cold war era:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/078062386X/

A CNN production, a rather mainstream non-European source.
Unfortunately VHS and rather expensive.

Regards



If you want to read a good history of the Cold War try "We Now Know:
Rethinking Cold War History" by John Lewis Gaddis. He is a Yale professor
that was originally very much in the "two sides of the story" camp. After
getting access to Kremlin documents after the fall of the USSR he pretty
much, "Oh crap it was all Stalins fault."