How Reagan Nearly Blew Us Up

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

Yet when all was said and done with Reagan brought down the feared Soviet Union. The wall came down. Reagan decided to ratch up the confrontation for sure. He decided to confront them on many fronts. The only way for the Soviet Union to compete was they had to spend the money and now we know they were pretty backward enough that they had to outspend us to keep up. The Soviet leaders had gotten very soft by our previous presidents accommodating them at every turn. Even back during Truman days he wanted nothing to do with stirring up the Evil empire. Kennedy yes seemed like he was so tough and all and he did escalate the crisis and it looked like the Soviets blinked but we now know that a secret agreement was made by Kennedy that had to stay secret or he would have been defeated in the next elections. Also he would have had his messiah image sullied.

That war games in the article went on every year. It was called Reforger and I went the following year in 84. Yes we did practice all facets of war and even nuclear possibilities. The Soviets were freaked by the missiles as they should have been. It meant they were checked at that time. During my time in the service Psyops was being used more. The Soviets were masters at the art. The Soviets knew we always had these war games. They knew we were using psyops. They saw their gains in our hemisphere eroding. They were used to the Americans accommodate them in everything. They played us as fools and thought it would last forever. Well it didn't and because they were practically bankrupt they had to fold They stretched themselves too thin. That happens when one tries to dominate the world on a welfare recipient wage.

Truman did show ballz to go into Korea but he was weak to do what needed done to win the war. Kennedy was snookered. There was no way that he or Eisenhower before him should have NOT known that the Soviets were introducing nukes into Cuba. It shows they were incompetent or scared. The Soviets played a game and won and secured Eastern Europe and themselves a security that was never to be shaken until Reagan came along. I grew up with the U.S. policy toward the Soviets as Detente and understanding them. It was to be a one way street with them though. They were brutal dictators that became paranoid of not just the outside of their borders but within. It felt good to be an American again during Reagan and especially after Carter, Ford and Nixon before him.

Firstly, let me say how proud we all are of your service to the country and the that of all the other servicemen and women whether or not they are members of VJ. Secondly, I wish a safe ad speedy return for your sister and everyone else in the service from their respective theatre of operations, they are in our thoughts and prayers, always.

Reagan was likeable, that's why people love him. He talked tough and he played the role of a cowboy to the hilt. There was no black and white with him. His policies left much to be desired, but he was likeable. He made America feel tough, invincible, after Vietnam most Americans needed it. Gorbachev and the rest of the Politburo knew that the Communist closed-market system couldn't go on. They had been bleeding for years. Reagan and Thatcher despite all the tough talk , really had nothing to do with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Tough talk actually emboldened them; all previous US Presidents knew this, they weren't puzzies. Both sides played the Psyops game, we were quite a bit better at it then they were. Neither Eisenhower (seriously?????) nor Kennedy were incompetent or scared, it might have been gamesmanship or maybe they knew the Soviet threat was a joke. For Heaven's sake they didn't even have anti-freeze in their cars. As for the Soviet sphere of influence, they left us alone so that we could do what we wanted and we left them alone. It was far from perfect but someone armed a chimpanzee with a handgun so we never knew what was going on. It might be argued that Reagan helped push the Soviets to economic collapse but it was the Carter administration in 1978, long before Operation Cyclone, that started the process of arming the Mujahideen. Oh well, at least Dutch was likeable.

Saying Reagan is the worst because of what almost happened is like saying Obmama is the best because of what he's promised to do.

President Obama talks a lot, I'm not what he does but he seems like a nice man.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Kennedy provoked the Soviets? I thought it was the other way around. I've lived in the shadow of the product of the Soviets provoking Kennedy for the first 21 years of my life. Trust me, they provoked him. Not the other way around.

Khrushchev would have been happy not to deal with the Americans, and see his five year plan come to fruition. Instead, in his short career, Kennedy managed to taunt the Soviets by installing missiles in Turkey, sending U-2 flights over Russian soil, conducting an active campaign to overthrow Castro, and violating the 1954 Geneva Accords in Indochina.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

So, basically, the Russian cluelessness about the nature of the UK - US communications traffic over the Grenada situation means that Reagan is the worst US President ever?

As for Cuba, most people don't realise that after the Russians withdrew their missiles from Cuba, the US withdrew their Thor IRBMs from Turkey (and took back the ones in service with the RAF in the UK) in 1963.

You never get something for nothing.

People should have thought of that before they picked Reagan over Carter.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Khrushchev would have been happy not to deal with the Americans, and see his five year plan come to fruition. Instead, in his short career, Kennedy managed to taunt the Soviets by installing missiles in Turkey, sending U-2 flights over Russian soil, conducting an active campaign to overthrow Castro, and violating the 1954 Geneva Accords in Indochina.

Correction: Kennedy "officially" announced he would not continue surveillance flights over the USSR.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Khrushchev would have been happy not to deal with the Americans, and see his five year plan come to fruition. Instead, in his short career, Kennedy managed to taunt the Soviets by installing missiles in Turkey, sending U-2 flights over Russian soil, conducting an active campaign to overthrow Castro, and violating the 1954 Geneva Accords in Indochina.

Kennedy let them build that wall around West Berlin - he could have stopped them but he didn't. Truman, on the other hand, didn't blink when the Soviets instituted the Berlin blockade in 1948 to drive the Western allied forces out of the city. He instead coordinated with the British Royal Air Force and instructed the US military to do what the Soviets and anybody else thought simply impossible - to use the air route rights granted to the allied forces to supply the city via the air for almost a year. He enlisted the support of the air force personnel of Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa to bring nearly 5000 tons of supplies daily - from fuel to food to construction materials - into the western sectors of Berlin. Nearly 200,000 flights over the course of a year kept the Western sectors of Berlin free and breathing. That was one of the greatest achievements of the US military ever and one of the most visionary accomplishments of a US President. The Soviets suffered a major defeat due to Truman's strength and commitment.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

Kennedy let them build that wall around West Berlin - he could have stopped them but he didn't. Truman, on the other hand, didn't blink when the Soviets instituted the Berlin blockade in 1948 to drive the Western allied forces out of the city. He instead coordinated with the British Royal Air Force and instructed the US military to do what the Soviets and anybody else thought simply impossible - to use the air route rights granted to the allied forces to supply the city via the air for almost a year. He enlisted the support of the air force personnel of Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa to bring nearly 5000 tons of supplies daily - from fuel to food to construction materials - into the western sectors of Berlin. Nearly 200,000 flights over the course of a year kept the Western sectors of Berlin free and breathing. That was one of the greatest achievements of the US military ever and one of the most visionary accomplishments of a US President. The Soviets suffered a major defeat due to Truman's strength and commitment.

I agree. The Soviets lost a great deal when airlifts were instituted and it was the long, drawn out hemorrhaging that led to the collapse of the Communists in the late 80s and 90s.