>
>>
>> Their fear of the US had the opposite effect. When Reagan made threatening noises it made MG pull back on reform. He's said so himself.
> No, I'm thinking earlier - the early 80s buildup. Later in the 80s, Reagan& Gorby plotted to eliminate nuclear weapons.
>
For what it's worth, here's Archie Brown:
> The Cold War almost certainly did more to keep Communist systems going
> than to bring them down. The ever-present threat of an external enemy
> was used as a justification for highly authoritarian (at times
> totalitarian) rule. Political dissent was portrayed as a betrayal of
> the 'socialist motherland' and the external threat was used to justify
> censorship and restrictions on foreign travel. What Communist systems
> were far less equipped to survive was closer contact with more
> prosperous democratic countries and a marked relaxation of
> international tension. Thus, insofar as President Reagan contributed
> to the demise of Communism, it was not so much (as is widely believed)
> by his perceived contribution to making the Cold War colder between
> 1980 and 1984, but by helping, in partnership with Gorbachev, to
> ensure that it came to a peaceful end.
SA