& Please note I give my usual references to all of my contentions on the inanity of the myth that Prez. Reagan defeated the USSR.
IMO: the best way is to compare the military defeat of the USSR in Afghanistan (& that is the basis for the Prez Reagan myth) to our de-facto military defeat in Vietnam where the Soviets wasted a fraction of a fraction of a fraction on manpower, lives & consequent cost in comparison to our country & in relation to our population as follows:
Vietnam USA military involvement
USA Population in 1970: 203,392,031My Reference : 1970 United States Census - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not counting American casualties in Eisenhowers secret wars in French Indochina & counting only the time of our 1st military KIA on July 8, 1959 to the fall of Saigon & the departure of our last military personnel on April 30, 1975 for a total of: 15 years 9 months & 22 days of American Military involvement.
1st KIA July 8, 1959
My Reference : Vietnam Veterans Memorial - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Total US KIA: 58,286
Percentage in relation to our USAs population: 0.029%
My Reference : Vietnam War casualties - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Maximum serving at one time: >543,000
Percentage in relation to our USAs population: 0.27%
My Reference : Troops in Vietnam: Reached a peak of 543,000 in the last year (1968) of the Johnson Administration
Other References : Vietnam Veterans Memorial - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Other References : Vietnam Veterans Memorial - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Afghanistan USSR military involvement:
USSR July 1985 Population: 277,700,000My Reference : Demographics of the Soviet Union - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
December 25, 1979 & Ended February 15, 1989 for a total of: 9 years 1 month & 21 Days of USSR military involvement..
From WIKIPEDIAs pro-USA reference in a USSR worst case Afghanistan defeat scenario that includes multiple references from Congressman Charlie Wilson including his version of how he won the Cold War in his Charlie Wilsons War later made into a movie staring Tom Hanks.
My Reference : Soviet war in Afghanistan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Total KIA: 14,453
Percentage in relation to the USSRs population: 0.0052%
Maximum serving at one time: 104,000
Percentage in relation to the USSRs population: 0.037%
My Reference : Soviet war in Afghanistan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Versus
The USSRs financial collapse coupled with events in Cardinal Karol Wojtylas Poland
When Prez Reagan died in 2004, Mikhail Gorbachev came to our country to pay his respects & was interviewed by a Fox News commentator that shoved a microphone into Mr. Gorbachevs hand & demanded his views as to how Prez Reagan had defeated the USSR, however when Mr. Gorbachev tried to explain the financial crisis & consequent demise of the old USSR the Fox News commentator not liking what Mr. Gorbachev was saying rudely grabbed back the microphone saying that it was Mr. Gorbachevs explanation of how Prez Reagan had defeated the USSR leaving Mr. Gorbachev & his translator looking at each other in disbelief.
Specifically & to the point what Mr. Gorbachev tried to explain was that the financial bankruptcy & demise of the USSR was because back in the 80s at the height of the oil crisis & due to the Iran Iraq war, the Persian Gulf was closed to oil exports from the region producing a tenfold increase of the barrel of crude oil. Western Europe then had to scramble to the USSR begging for oil at any price but once the war was over, the price of oil dropped back to the original pre-war levels that bankrupted the USSR that couldnt balance its oil exports in relation to the cost of its massive imports it had grown dependent upon.
Without a doubt, the USSRs global dominance ended with their financial bankruptcy & cracked in Poland (not in the military defeat in Afghanistan), with their failure to crack the Lech Walesas Solidarity trade union with the ample support of the Catholic church headed by Cardinal Karol Wojtyla in Cracow & others.
The importance of Solidarity Trade Union cannot be overemphasized enough because this was the 1st Non-Communist Trade Union in the Soviet bloc & they the Soviets viewed this as a mortal threat for their totalitarian Soviet communist states & on December 13, 1981, the Polish General Wojciech Jaruzelski declared martial law & their leaders & priest that didnt cooperate with the government were beaten & given long prison term.
My Reference:
Lech Walesa historical biography : Solidarity
Other Reference:
Poland looks to Pope John Paul II with new eyes as Russia stirs | Alaska Dispatch
Best Regards
Lobato1
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