Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Azpatriot, post: 1266641, member: 32979&quot;]<b>soviet and US military and economic issues</b></p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_and_USSR_nuclear_stockpiles.svg" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_and_USSR_nuclear_stockpiles.svg" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bb/US_and_USSR_nuclear_stockpiles.svg/220px-US_and_USSR_nuclear_stockpiles.svg.png" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></a>&nbsp; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_and_USSR_nuclear_stockpiles.svg" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_and_USSR_nuclear_stockpiles.svg" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.17/common/images/magnify-clip.png" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></a></p><p>&nbsp;US and USSR/Russian nuclear weapons stockpiles, 1945–2006</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SDIO_Delta_Star.jpg" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SDIO_Delta_Star.jpg" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/SDIO_Delta_Star.jpg/170px-SDIO_Delta_Star.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></a>&nbsp; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SDIO_Delta_Star.jpg" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SDIO_Delta_Star.jpg" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.17/common/images/magnify-clip.png" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></a></p><p>&nbsp;Delta 183 launch vehicle lifts off, carrying the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Defense_Initiative" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Defense_Initiative" rel="nofollow">Strategic Defense Initiative</a> sensor experiment &quot;Delta Star&quot;.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;Moscow had built up a military that consumed as much as 25 percent of&nbsp; the Soviet Union&#039;s gross national product at the expense of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_goods_in_the_Soviet_Union" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_goods_in_the_Soviet_Union" rel="nofollow">consumer goods</a> and investment in civilian sectors.[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-LaFeber_2002.2C_p._332-207" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-LaFeber_2002.2C_p._332-207" rel="nofollow">[208]</a>[/SUP] Soviet spending on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_race" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_race" rel="nofollow">arms race</a> and other Cold War commitments both caused and exacerbated deep-seated structural problems in the Soviet system,[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-208" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-208" rel="nofollow">[209]</a>[/SUP] which saw at least <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Era_of_Stagnation" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Era_of_Stagnation" rel="nofollow">a decade of economic stagnation</a> during the late Brezhnev years.</p><p>&nbsp;Soviet investment in the defense sector was not driven by military necessity, but in large part by the interests of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomenklatura" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomenklatura" rel="nofollow">massive party and state bureaucracies</a> dependent on the sector for their own power and privileges.[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-209" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-209" rel="nofollow">[210]</a>[/SUP] The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Armed_Forces" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Armed_Forces" rel="nofollow">Soviet Armed Forces</a>&nbsp; became the largest in the world in terms of the numbers and types of&nbsp; weapons they possessed, in the number of troops in their ranks, and in&nbsp; the sheer size of their <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military-industrial_complex" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military-industrial_complex" rel="nofollow">military–industrial base</a>.[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-Odom-210" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-Odom-210" rel="nofollow">[211]</a>[/SUP] However, the quantitative advantages held by the Soviet military often concealed areas[SUP][<i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Avoid_weasel_words" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Avoid_weasel_words" rel="nofollow">which?</a></i>][/SUP] where the Eastern Bloc dramatically lagged behind the West.[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-211" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-211" rel="nofollow">[212]</a>[/SUP]</p><p>&nbsp; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USSR_stamp_S.Smith_1985_5k.jpg" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USSR_stamp_S.Smith_1985_5k.jpg" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/USSR_stamp_S.Smith_1985_5k.jpg/170px-USSR_stamp_S.Smith_1985_5k.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></a>&nbsp; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USSR_stamp_S.Smith_1985_5k.jpg" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USSR_stamp_S.Smith_1985_5k.jpg" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.17/common/images/magnify-clip.png" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></a></p><p>&nbsp;After ten year old American <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Smith" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Smith" rel="nofollow">Samantha Smith</a> wrote a letter to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Andropov" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Andropov" rel="nofollow">Yuri Andropov</a> expressing her fear of nuclear war, Andropov invited Smith to the Soviet Union.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;<b>By the early 1980s, the USSR had built up a military arsenal and army&nbsp; surpassing that of the United States. Soon after the Soviet invasion of&nbsp; Afghanistan, president Carter began massively building up the United&nbsp; States military. This buildup was accelerated by the Reagan&nbsp; administration, which increased the military spending from 5.3 percent&nbsp; of GNP in 1981 to 6.5 percent in 1986,[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-212" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-212" rel="nofollow">[213]</a>[/SUP] the largest peacetime defense buildup in United States history.[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-213" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-213" rel="nofollow">[214]</a>[/SUP]</b></p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;Tensions continued intensifying in the early 1980s when Reagan revived the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-1_Lancer" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-1_Lancer" rel="nofollow">B-1 Lancer</a> program that was canceled by the Carter administration, produced <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGM-118_Peacekeeper" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGM-118_Peacekeeper" rel="nofollow">LGM-118 Peacekeepers</a>,[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-214" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-214" rel="nofollow">[215]</a>[/SUP] installed US cruise missiles in Europe, and announced his experimental <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Defense_Initiative" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Defense_Initiative" rel="nofollow">Strategic Defense Initiative</a>, dubbed &quot;Star Wars&quot; by the media, a defense program to shoot down missiles in mid-flight.[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-ShieldSpace.3F-215" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-ShieldSpace.3F-215" rel="nofollow">[216]</a>[/SUP]</p><p>&nbsp;<b>With the background of a buildup in tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States, and the deployment of Soviet <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSD-10_Pioneer" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSD-10_Pioneer" rel="nofollow">RSD-10 Pioneer</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistic_missile" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistic_missile" rel="nofollow">ballistic missiles</a> targeting Western Europe, NATO decided, under the impetus of the Carter presidency, to deploy <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MGM-31_Pershing" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MGM-31_Pershing" rel="nofollow">MGM-31 Pershing</a> and cruise missiles in Europe, primarily West Germany.</b>[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-216" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-216" rel="nofollow">[217]</a>[/SUP] <b>This deployment would have placed missiles just 10 minutes&#039; striking distance from Moscow.[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-217" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-217" rel="nofollow">[218]</a>[/SUP]</b></p><p>&nbsp;After Reagan&#039;s military buildup, the Soviet Union did not respond by further building its military[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-218" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-218" rel="nofollow">[219]</a>[/SUP] because the enormous military expenses, along with inefficient <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_economy" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_economy" rel="nofollow">planned manufacturing</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collectivization_in_the_Soviet_Union" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collectivization_in_the_Soviet_Union" rel="nofollow">collectivized agriculture</a>, were already a heavy burden for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Soviet_Union" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Soviet_Union" rel="nofollow">Soviet economy</a>.[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-Gaidar.2C_Yegor-219" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-Gaidar.2C_Yegor-219" rel="nofollow">[220]</a>[/SUP] At the same time, Reagan persuaded <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Arabia" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Arabia" rel="nofollow">Saudi Arabia</a> to increase oil production,[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-220" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-220" rel="nofollow">[221]</a>[/SUP] even as other non-OPEC nations were increasing production.[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-EIA-221" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-EIA-221" rel="nofollow">[222]</a>[/SUP] These developments contributed to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980s_oil_glut" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980s_oil_glut" rel="nofollow">1980s oil glut</a>, which affected the Soviet Union, as oil was the main source of Soviet export revenues.[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-LaFeber_2002.2C_p._332-207" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-LaFeber_2002.2C_p._332-207" rel="nofollow">[208]</a>[/SUP][SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-Gaidar.2C_Yegor-219" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-Gaidar.2C_Yegor-219" rel="nofollow">[220]</a>[/SUP] Issues with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_economy" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_economy" rel="nofollow">command economics</a>,[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-hardt1-222" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-hardt1-222" rel="nofollow">[223]</a>[/SUP] oil prices decreases and large military expenditures gradually brought the Soviet economy to stagnation.[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-Gaidar.2C_Yegor-219" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-Gaidar.2C_Yegor-219" rel="nofollow">[220]</a>[/SUP]</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;On September 1, 1<b>983, the Soviet Union shot down <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Air_Lines_Flight_007" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Air_Lines_Flight_007" rel="nofollow">Korean Air Lines Flight 007</a>, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747" rel="nofollow">Boeing 747</a> with 269 people aboard, including sitting Congressman <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_McDonald" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_McDonald" rel="nofollow">Larry McDonald</a>, when it violated Soviet airspace just past the west coast of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakhalin" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakhalin" rel="nofollow">Sakhalin Island</a> near <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moneron_Island" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moneron_Island" rel="nofollow">Moneron Island</a> —an&nbsp; act which Reagan characterized as a &quot;massacre&quot;</b>. This act increased&nbsp; support for military deployment, overseen by Reagan, which stood in&nbsp; place until the later accords between Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev.[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-DoernerFive-223" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-DoernerFive-223" rel="nofollow">[224]</a>[/SUP] <u><i><b>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83" rel="nofollow">Able Archer 83</a>&nbsp; exercise in November 1983, a realistic simulation of a coordinated NATO&nbsp; nuclear release, has been called most dangerous moment since the Cuban&nbsp; Missile Crisis, as the Soviet leadership keeping a close watch on it&nbsp; considered a nuclear attack to be imminent.[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-224" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-224" rel="nofollow">[225]</a>[/SUP]</b></i></u></p><p>&nbsp;US domestic public concerns about intervening in foreign conflicts persisted from the end of the Vietnam War.[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-LaFeber323-225" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-LaFeber323-225" rel="nofollow">[226]</a>[/SUP] The Reagan administration emphasized the use of quick, low-cost <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-insurgency" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-insurgency" rel="nofollow">counter-insurgency</a> tactics to intervene in foreign conflicts.[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-LaFeber323-225" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-LaFeber323-225" rel="nofollow">[226]</a>[/SUP] In 1983, the Reagan administration intervened in the multisided <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanese_Civil_War" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanese_Civil_War" rel="nofollow">Lebanese Civil War</a>, invaded <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenada" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenada" rel="nofollow">Grenada</a>, bombed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libya" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libya" rel="nofollow">Libya</a> and backed the Central American <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras" rel="nofollow">Contras</a>, anti-communist paramilitaries seeking to overthrow the Soviet-aligned <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandinista_National_Liberation_Front" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandinista_National_Liberation_Front" rel="nofollow">Sandinista</a> government in Nicaragua.[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-Gaddis_2005.2C_p._212-97" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-Gaddis_2005.2C_p._212-97" rel="nofollow">[98]</a>[/SUP] While Reagan&#039;s interventions against Grenada and Libya were popular in the United States, his backing of the Contra rebels was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Contra_affair" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Contra_affair" rel="nofollow">mired in controversy</a>.[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-Reagan-226" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-Reagan-226" rel="nofollow">[227]</a>[/SUP]</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;Meanwhile, the Soviets incurred high costs for their own foreign&nbsp; interventions. Although Brezhnev was convinced in 1979 that the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_war_in_Afghanistan" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_war_in_Afghanistan" rel="nofollow">Soviet war in Afghanistan</a> would be brief, Muslim guerrillas, aided by the US and other countries, waged a fierce resistance against the invasion.[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-LaFeber314-227" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-LaFeber314-227" rel="nofollow">[228]</a>[/SUP]&nbsp; The Kremlin sent nearly 100,000 troops to support its puppet regime in&nbsp; Afghanistan, leading many outside observers to dub the war &quot;the Soviets&#039;&nbsp; Vietnam&quot;.[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-LaFeber314-227" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-LaFeber314-227" rel="nofollow">[228]</a>[/SUP]&nbsp; However, Moscow&#039;s quagmire in Afghanistan was far more disastrous for&nbsp; the Soviets than Vietnam had been for the Americans because the conflict&nbsp; coincided with a period of internal decay and domestic crisis in the&nbsp; Soviet system.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;A senior <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_State" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_State" rel="nofollow">US State Department</a>&nbsp; official predicted such an outcome as early as 1980, positing that the&nbsp; invasion resulted in part from a &quot;domestic crisis within the Soviet system. ... It may be that the thermodynamic law of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy" rel="nofollow">entropy</a> has ... caught&nbsp; up with the Soviet system, which now seems to expend more energy on&nbsp; simply maintaining its equilibrium than on improving itself. We could be&nbsp; seeing a period of foreign movement at a time of internal decay&quot;.[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-Dobrynin-228" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-Dobrynin-228" rel="nofollow">[229]</a>[/SUP][SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-229" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-229" rel="nofollow">[230]</a>[/SUP]&nbsp; The Soviets were not helped by their aged and sclerotic leadership&nbsp; either: Brezhnev, virtually incapacitated in his last years, was&nbsp; succeeded by Andropov and Chernenko, neither of whom lasted long. After&nbsp; Chernenko&#039;s death, Reagan was asked why he had not negotiated with&nbsp; Soviet leaders. Reagan quipped, &quot;They keep dying on me&quot;.[SUP]<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-230" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-230" rel="nofollow">[231]</a>[/SUP]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Not that it means a damn thing 30 years later but the airliner bit I bolded there.....I was there helping to look for bodies and debris so please stop with the cold war ended in 1975 bit. So while your assumption of gold price movement may very well be correct, your absoluteness regarding the period of time of conversation is a bit clouded to say the least.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Apologies in advance to the mods for turning this thread into a history lesson[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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