Shouldn't Carter get the credit for the fall of Communism?

[Motown_Johnny]

Since it is the President who was in office before the event took place who set things up for the event to happen.


(Freeper troll heads explode as they see this)



Just a way to knock them off message, nothing more.

[Recovered Repug]

1. Then that would be Reagan.

Bush 1 was in office when the Berlin Wall fell.

[WinkyDink]

3. Fine. Then we'll use VietNam, and claim LBJ ended it.

[leveymg]

2. Brzezinski gets a lot of it. Of course, arming the jihadists didn't turn out to be such a hot idea

in the long run.



(That isn't bin Laden - about 6 inches too short)

[WinkyDink]

4. I'd say no American. Lech Walesa and the Pope were most instrumental.

[Alamuti Lotus]

5. Stalin deserves more credit

chiefly for aborting the world revolutionary movement before it could take hold in Russia or anywhere else..

[leveymg]

7. Do you think that was intentional, or just a biproduct of his ruthless ambition and paranoia?

Would like to hear what facts lead you to your conclusions, either way. Thnx in advance.

[malaise]

6. No

Only ReTHUGS get credit

[KharmaTrain]

8. Fax Machines & Television...

Raygun prolonged the Cold War by reactivating it...the Soviet system had corrupted on its very own. An interesting perspective of the fall of the Eastern Bloc came from a late friend who was a correspondant who traveled throughout the area in 1989 and saw the fall of the Berlin Wall firsthand. His take was information brought down the Soviet system...the advent of television and then computers and fax machines. East Germans would see the "other world" on their teevees as did others in Russia and elsewhere on bootlegged tapes. The governments lost control on the flow of information and the ability to prevent outside ideas from reaching millions. Years of a depressed economy added to the momentum and thus when an opposition could coordinate the change spread quickly and the aging regimes were unable to react. He cited that the first thing East Berliners did when the wall opened was to go shopping...then go home.

Recently the local PBS station ran an interesting documentary about how the Beatles had a major effect on bringing down the Soviet system. It shows how an entire generation broke the law...had their silent rebellion while us "boomers" had ours...bootlegging Beatle music and using it as a language among themselves of a world far different than the one they were living in. While the concept sounds silly when you first start watching, by the end you see a strong effect. It was pop culture, not some old Hollywood B-actor...along with a kleptocracy similar to what we're experiencing now in this country that depressed the economy and led to the ultimate erosion of its own power.

In other words...sorry Freepers...Raygun gave nice speeches using a teleprompter. That's all. Gorbachev deserves the credit. Pope John Paul deserves the credit. Raygun was too busy playing cowboy.

[zbdent]

9. actually, I believe it was Karl Marx who should be credited with the fall of Communism ...

I mean, every time a Dem should be credited with a good thing, the Repugs point out about how it was really some guy before Dem X ...