A healthy dose of perspective
Americans tend to be ignorant of history - even very recent history - and see the world only through their eyes. Natural, of course, but dangerous as well. Here's a more realistic picture of who was the heroic world leader of the 80s.
The piece concludes:
The recasting of the story now suggests that President Reagan's defence-spending hikes -- as if there hadn't been American military buildups before -- somehow intimidated the Kremlin into its vast reform campaign. Or that America's economic strength -- as if the Soviets hadn't always been witheringly weak by comparison -- made the Soviet leader do it.
In fact, Mr. Gorbachev could have well perpetuated the old totalitarian system. He still had the giant Soviet armies, the daunting nuclear might and the chilling KGB apparatus at his disposal.
But he had decided that the continuing clash of East-West ideologies was senseless, that his sick and obsolescent society was desperate for democratic air. His historic campaign that followed wasn't about Ronald Reagan. It would have happened with or without this president. Rather, it was about him, Mikhail Gorbachev: his will, his inner strength, his human spirit. As for the Gipper, he was bold and wise enough, to shed his long-held preconceptions and become the Russian's admirable companion in the process.
In the collapse of communism he deserves credit not as an instigator, but an abettor. Best Supporting Actor.
Now if you don't understand how the author can conclude that, read the entire piece. What the Russian leader did was nothing short of amazing.
And while we're on the subject of reality, we've heard a lot about D-Day recently and as we listen to the stories we walk away with the impression that we pretty much beat the Germans all by ourselves. It should take nothing away from our soldiers to recognize a simple reality - 79 percent of the casualties suffered by the German Army were inflicted by the Soviet Army. And most of those took place before D-Day. Hitler's big mistake was the same as Napoleon's - and they both met defeat in Russia.
Russian losses were staggering. But so were the German losses. And in the end, our job, difficult as it was, was made a lot easier by the battles on the Eastern front that went on before, during and after our invasion of Europe on D-Day.
Don't get me wrong. I don't mean to make disproportionate heroes out of the Russian people. They inflicted more than their share of grief on themselves and the rest of the world during the 20th Century. But we desperately need a dose of historical reality if we are going to see our way as the country that can lead the wordl, at last, to meaningful peace in this new century.
