PoliticalChic
Diamond Member
1. What does a real President do when the other side refuses to agree to his terms?
According to Marx, communism was inevitable....and the Soviets lived by this creed.
The battle of wills was played out between Gorbachev and Reagna in Reykjavik in 1986.
"At no point, however, did Gorbachev want to yield Moscow's pride of place as the number two superpower. And he was blissfully confident that the risks were tolerable: "There is no reason to fear the collapse or the end of socialism", Gorbachev assured Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu three weeks after the Berlin Wall had been breached and three weeks before the Romanian dictator was executed by his own people.
Reagan [a nuclear abolitionist at heart] was made from far sterner stuff than was his Soviet counterpart. His genial grin and wise-cracking demeanor concealed a spine of steel when push came to shove. Yet at their next meeting in Reykjavik in 1986, where Gorbachev would not budge on the "Star Wars" question, Reagan was decisive and unforgiving. He recalls in An American Life how he stood up from the table to proclaim that the meeting was over. Then he turned to his Secretary of State: "Let's go, George. We're leaving." Like any good diplomat, Shultz was crushed by so much roughness, but Reagan was completely unfazed. Later on, he explained: "I went to Reykjavik determined that everything was negotiable except two things, our freedom and our future." FindArticles.com | CBSi
2. So ended the Reykjavik Summit....with no deal.
Returning home, Reagan, gave a speech:
" While we parted company with this American offer still on the table, we're closer than ever before to agreements that could lead to a safer world without nuclear weapons. I'm always aware that, as President, I'm not just making decisions for today's Americans, but tomorrow's Americans as well. I was not about to bargain away a safer world for you tomorrow.
It's my sincere hope that Mr. Gorbachev will review the great strides we made in Iceland and join with us in reducing nuclear weapons and in building technology that protects lives rather than destroying them. That's the only protection we have today."
Ronald Reagan: Remarks to Students From Southern Regional High School of Manahawkin, New Jersey, in Baltimore, Maryland
Compare those words and actions with the simpleton who insured that the world's most prominent state supporter of terrorism will......will....have nuclear weapons.
Only those who have failed George Santayana's test can continue to support Hussein Obama.
3. "The American economy was also made from sterner stuff than Gorbachev's collapsing command economy. After the faux prosperity of the 1970s, fueled by skyrocketing oil prices and infusions of Western loans, the Soviet economy went into a terminal tail spin while its U.S. counterpart turned on its afterburners…"
Ibid.
a. "The Soviets could no longer meet US economic and strategic competition. They therefore had to meet Reagan's terms. Gorbachev announced his acceptance of the 'zero-zero option' on INF missiles on July 22, 1987."
John O’Sullivan, The President, the Pope, And the Prime Minister: Three Who Changed the World, p. 289
Could Obama have used the same 'weapon' to make certain that Iran never gained nuclear arms?
Soooo....why didn't he?
According to Marx, communism was inevitable....and the Soviets lived by this creed.
The battle of wills was played out between Gorbachev and Reagna in Reykjavik in 1986.
"At no point, however, did Gorbachev want to yield Moscow's pride of place as the number two superpower. And he was blissfully confident that the risks were tolerable: "There is no reason to fear the collapse or the end of socialism", Gorbachev assured Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu three weeks after the Berlin Wall had been breached and three weeks before the Romanian dictator was executed by his own people.
Reagan [a nuclear abolitionist at heart] was made from far sterner stuff than was his Soviet counterpart. His genial grin and wise-cracking demeanor concealed a spine of steel when push came to shove. Yet at their next meeting in Reykjavik in 1986, where Gorbachev would not budge on the "Star Wars" question, Reagan was decisive and unforgiving. He recalls in An American Life how he stood up from the table to proclaim that the meeting was over. Then he turned to his Secretary of State: "Let's go, George. We're leaving." Like any good diplomat, Shultz was crushed by so much roughness, but Reagan was completely unfazed. Later on, he explained: "I went to Reykjavik determined that everything was negotiable except two things, our freedom and our future." FindArticles.com | CBSi
2. So ended the Reykjavik Summit....with no deal.
Returning home, Reagan, gave a speech:
" While we parted company with this American offer still on the table, we're closer than ever before to agreements that could lead to a safer world without nuclear weapons. I'm always aware that, as President, I'm not just making decisions for today's Americans, but tomorrow's Americans as well. I was not about to bargain away a safer world for you tomorrow.
It's my sincere hope that Mr. Gorbachev will review the great strides we made in Iceland and join with us in reducing nuclear weapons and in building technology that protects lives rather than destroying them. That's the only protection we have today."
Ronald Reagan: Remarks to Students From Southern Regional High School of Manahawkin, New Jersey, in Baltimore, Maryland
Compare those words and actions with the simpleton who insured that the world's most prominent state supporter of terrorism will......will....have nuclear weapons.
Only those who have failed George Santayana's test can continue to support Hussein Obama.
3. "The American economy was also made from sterner stuff than Gorbachev's collapsing command economy. After the faux prosperity of the 1970s, fueled by skyrocketing oil prices and infusions of Western loans, the Soviet economy went into a terminal tail spin while its U.S. counterpart turned on its afterburners…"
Ibid.
a. "The Soviets could no longer meet US economic and strategic competition. They therefore had to meet Reagan's terms. Gorbachev announced his acceptance of the 'zero-zero option' on INF missiles on July 22, 1987."
John O’Sullivan, The President, the Pope, And the Prime Minister: Three Who Changed the World, p. 289
Could Obama have used the same 'weapon' to make certain that Iran never gained nuclear arms?
Soooo....why didn't he?
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