Central players
So you list Gorbachev as an objective source on this? Goes a long way to showing how the bar for credulity can move considerably in some people depending on what they want to believe.
I suppose if Rumsfeld told you we had won the war in Iraq, you'd buy that too since he is a "central player."
The United States and its political system are intact, thriving, and prosperous. Our economy is growing, and our military is the strongest in the world.
The Soviet Union collapsed into independent nations and its political system lost its power.
If you want to hallucinate that this is "both of them losing," go for it. I assume it soothes something in your makeup to believe it.