[timofei7]

We won against the Soviet Union? Maybe he should revisit some history. If anything, our constant embargoes during the cold war only made the Soviet Union last longer. As soon as both sides started trading more freely, that was the fall of the Soviet Union, largely due to Gorbachev in either case. We had stupid foreign policies then, and we still have stupid foreign policies. He refers to the greatness of NASA back in the day, does he not know that is a government funded liberal program that his party would like to shut down? Does he not know how to use the internet to educate himself before giving a speech to millions?

[Turing_Machine]

"We won against the Soviet Union?"

The Soviet Union no longer exists, and the United States of America does.

So, yeah, most people would call that winning.

[timofei7]

We did nothing to "win". Most people would require there to be some action to get the credit.

[Turing_Machine]

"We did nothing to "win"."

Oh, I think the Cold War certainly counts as something. It's a dead certainty that, without U.S. nuclear force and somewhere around half a million U.S. troops in Europe, the Soviet Union would have eaten Western Europe as thoroughly as it ate Eastern Europe. Also, as I type, I'm within a few miles of three former nuclear missile sites. Those didn't magically appear by themselves, dude. How does that count as "nothing"?

I also think that (contrary to your claim that increased trade brought the downfall) if the U.S. hadn't sold the Soviet Union vast amounts of grain beginning in the 1970s, the fall of the USSR would have been much faster, and much, much uglier. Nonetheless, I'm glad that didn't happen. Millions in the U.S.S.R. would have starved to death.