Our victory in the Cold War was made possible by the willingness of millions of Americans in uniform to stand prepared against the threat from behind the Iron Curtain
She wanted to say that these were US soldiers who won the cold war, but still the threat came "from behind the Iron Curtain"? And after that they're saing Russia lives in cold war.. :cool:

My own opinion is that the Soviets ran out of money to continue playing the game with the US.They couldnt afford to keep upgrading they're weapons systems in line with America.
Also,rising discontent within the former Warsaw Pact countrys was proving difficult to contain.The Solidarity movement seems to have started the ball rolling.
Corruption by Communist Party Officals was also a major problem across Eastern Europe.

dont worry, if Mrs Clinton was talking to americans of russian descent she would give credit to the steadfast russian people who desired freedom above all else

You mean the people in Alaska hehe

In my opinion it was all about radical reforms in Soviet Union, often poorly thought out and limp. As a result - economical crisis, as a result - inability to resist the United States, as a result - political crisis, as a result - loose of control over the sphere of influence, as a result - collapse of socialist system.

The collapse of the socialist system, coupled with the fall of oil prices was accompanied by a huge decline in the economy and industrial production and ethnic conflicts on the outskirts of the country. Finally after the first republic proclaimed independence it was all over.

I guess your lucky enough not to remember the Soviets too much D.I know there is extreme poverty in Russia still,but I dont get the impression the people fear the Government as much as they used to,things can only get better and thats a good thing.

I am lucky not to remember its last years, but i am unlucky to remember first years of independent Russia. I think kids in 40's remember smth of that kind during the war.. In such cases you usually want to have that memory eraser like in MIB, you know.

Yep.So Dee.Whats the story with mr Putin,he seems to make the west nervous

My own opinion is that the Soviets ran out of money to continue playing the game with the US.They couldnt afford to keep upgrading they're weapons systems in line with America.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/11/01/binladen.tape/index.html

"We are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy. Allah willing, and nothing is too great for Allah," bin Laden said in the transcript.

He said the mujahedeen fighters did the same thing to the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s, "using guerrilla warfare and the war of attrition to fight tyrannical superpowers."

"We, alongside the mujahedeen, bled Russia for 10 years until it went bankrupt and was forced to withdraw in defeat," bin Laden said.

He also said al Qaeda has found it "easy for us to provoke and bait this administration."

"All that we have to do is to send two mujahedeen to the furthest point east to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al Qaeda, in order to make generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic and political losses without their achieving anything of note other than some benefits for their private corporations," bin Laden said.

I was stationed in Wiesbaden, Germany for most of the 1980's. There was always talk of the "enemy" coming though the Fulda Gap and how the U.S. was prepared to defend that portion of the NATO area they were responsible for. West Germany was divided up into sectors, with all the "winners" of WWII having troops in their sector (French, British, American) the Russians had everything behind the Iron Curtain.
At that time, in the civilian world, there was a never ending stream of trucks on the autobahns (think of our Interstates with higher speed limits, much stricter traffic cops & laws and as a result, much better drivers) with "T.I.R." on white license plates attached along with their regular plates. I forget what that meant, but was told it was a customs tag that permitted those vehicles to go to the "east" and without undue hassles. The "east" wasn't considered a real threat at any time during my 7 years stationed there. We'd flat spent them into the ground. The Iron Curtain countries simply could not provide both a first class military and the demands of a consumer driven economy. At best, they could do one or the other. They chose wrong, now the U.S.S.R. and the Iron Curtain have become mostly things of memory.

A signifigant factor in the collapse was the Soviet war in Afghanistan. They got trapped into a never ending fight to control that country, and the U.S. was able to provide weapons for very little cost to keep the resistance going. It bled the economy of the Soviet Union, and helped create social unrest as well, as the populace turned against the war. We trained the Afghan resistance quite well, including such figures as Osama Bin Laden.

Is there a lesson to be learnt from this in todays world I wonder.

Afghanistan failure played very important role in crisis of trust of soviet leadership, but still i think even if there was no such war, in late 80's Soviet Union was already to collapse anyway. Bin Laden obviously overestimates his role..

Yep.So Dee.Whats the story with mr Putin,he seems to make the west nervous
Putin is a talented leader, he is a patriot and a pragmatist at the same time. I am absolutely sure that western nerves are concerned only about state control over oil and gas, but not about how soviet his methods are. Yes, there is some nostalgia taste in his work but that's highly supported by people.

There'd also been massive crop failures for several years, if I remember rightly.

When people get hungry, watch the government--any government--topple.

There'd also been massive crop failures for several years, if I remember rightly.

When people get hungry, watch the government--any government--topple.

First country that comes to mind is North Korea.

In fact that's partly true. It's not that there was famine but there was a certain food crisis. And not only food, but everything, all FMCG. There were problems even with toilet paper - the very first step to state overthrow.. :p