Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to The Soviets copied the Soyuz and Progress from the US?

re: The Soviets copied the Soyuz and Progress from the US?
SDG — (archived)

Bouncing off the extremes again?

The Soviets basically won WWII, albeit with some American equipment. And said equipment wasn't occupied with American soldiers, thereby saving American lives.

I don't think the soviets could have defeated Hitler alone. They could stop him cold, but Hitler had to defend 2 fronts, which gave Stalin a chance to push him back to the Vaterland.

Similarly, you jump to the extremes that Reagan deserves no credit in the fall of the USSR. Certainly both Gorbachev and Reagan deserve the credit. I don't see how it can be argued otherwise. Both men were smart and brave enough to bring it to pass. Perhaps as a failed economic system the USSR would have failed eventually, and perhaps not. Look at Cuba, why hasn't it collapsed on itself yet? That the Soviets had a hard time feeding their people is a documented fact, but I'm not so sure that that alone could have brought on a revolution. On the flip side the argument that Gorbachev saw his own system as a massive Ponzii scheme which could not endure forever, and hence worked to change it before disaster is also appealling. I think both arguments must stand together and not apart, so in other words: Both Ways.

-Steve G.

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