The Achilles' heel of the USSR was found in Washington. They created the illusion of their power, invincibility, and made Moscow believe in its alleged weakness. This was enough to frighten and force the relaxed and decayed Soviet elite to capitulate.
USA on the brink of collapse
As noted earlier (How Reagan fought the "evil empire"), America lost to the USSR in the main areas of development - science and breakthrough technologies, education and culture, the moral and psychological state of the population. The West, led by the United States, again faced the prospect of a new Great Depression, a crisis of capitalism. And the Soviet civilization got the opportunity to become the indisputable leader of mankind. The only question was the quality of the Soviet elite, which was used to living in peace and did not want to change anything.
Reagan (US President 1981-1989) left Bush a heavy legacy. Government budget deficit, high government debt, boom in land and real estate speculation. Foreign trade deficit, especially in trade with Japan, rising unemployment. Pessimism and decadent sentiments spread in society.
In addition, Reagan was caught in a global scandal known as the Iran-Contra affair. The fact is that in 1979 the Sandinistas seized power in Nicaragua, who were guided by Moscow. The Russians gained a strategic foothold in Central America. Then we began to gain a foothold in El Salvador. Washington "reds" in Nicaragua were not happy. Americans viewed Latin America as their traditional sphere of influence. Reagan wanted to support the Contra rebels who fought against the Sandinista regime. However, Congress did not want to fund the contras fighters.
Then the Reagan administration came up with a scam. At this time, there was a very cruel and bloody war between Iraq and Iran (1980-1988). Tehran was in desperate need of weapons. However, in Iran in 1979, the Islamic Revolution won, which declared the United States to be the "chief shaitan" of the planet. Iranian revolutionaries even captured American diplomats and held them under arrest for over a year. Then President Carter banned any financial transactions with Tehran.
It was to Tehran that Washington decided to sell weapons for a lot of money. And with the money raised to help the Nicaraguan rebels. All this was done unofficially and in deep secrecy, through commercial structures created by the special services. In 1985, Israel joined the covert operation.
In 1986, an American military transporter carrying cargo for the rebels was shot down over Nicaragua. The surviving pilot was captured and testified. The information appeared in the world press.
Reagan tried to get out, formed a commission to investigate the Iran-Contra case. According to the president, the real purpose of the operation was to establish contacts with "moderate" forces in Iran. All the blame for the fact that the funds went to other purposes was placed on Colonel Oliver North, an employee of the National Security Council, who led the operations against Nicaragua.
The investigation lasted more than six years. The press tried to find out the extent of Reagan's guilt and whether the Bowland amendment, which prohibited the help of the Contras, had been violated. The main witnesses were North, Admiral J. Pointdexter.
One of the main defendants in the Iran-Contra case was the head of the CIA, W. Casey. However, Casey fell seriously ill and died in 1987. North rejected testimony from the presidential administration that he acted on his own. Secretary of State J. Schultz and Defense Minister K. Weinberg reported that they opposed the sale of weapons to the Iranians and did not have all the information about this operation.
The scandal completely disorganized the Reagan "siloviki". The team that organized the strategic offensive against the USSR fell apart. The head of the CIA died, the secretary of defense resigned. The rest were on the "defense", they had no time for the Russians. The Iran-Contra affair tarnished Reagan's reputation.
Thus, the coming to power of Gorbachev and the "restructuring" of the Warsaw bloc and the USSR simply saved the Reagan regime, the United States and the West themselves from a severe crisis and a period of decline.
How the red empire was hounded
Reagan and his team attributed the victory over the Red Bear to themselves.
However, this victory was presented to them by Gorbachev and his entourage. Unfortunately, even the American parody of Hitler (a strong and bright leader) was enough to frighten and force the relaxed and decayed Soviet elite to capitulate.
The situation is somewhat reminiscent of the late 1930s. Then Hitler, who was portrayed by the Western press as a "rude guy", an unpredictable, aggressive and brilliant leader, simply intimidated the soft and liberal politicians of France and Britain. They surrendered Czechoslovakia and then Poland without a fight, starting a "strange war." In the hope that the Fuhrer will leave the West alone and go to the East.
In the 1980s, the role of the Fuhrer was played by a Hollywood actor, and the roles of cowards and traitors were played by the Gorbachevites.
Moscow at that time was so rotten that literally the illusion of an "invincible" America and the approach of collapse was enough to completely surrender the Soviet civilization and the people.
The USSR seemed to the enemies of an invincible northern empire, a "red bear" that had to be fought with all forces. The best land army in the world. Huge arsenals of quite modern weapons. Powerful military-industrial complex. Advanced science and technology. Industrial, technological and food independence. In general, a disciplined, well-educated people. United Communist Party, no opposition in the country. The Russians were invulnerable in direct confrontation. You can't fight like during the Second World War.
America has relied on the "indirect war" strategy.
They tried to exhaust the USSR with the help of the Afghan war. A third front was created - the Islamic one. At the same time, the "cold" confrontation with the United States and China persisted. The massive anti-communist movement in Poland was also supported. The Soviet government spent enormous amounts of money to save the Polish economy, which, through the "skillful" actions of Warsaw, was on the verge of collapse.
The Americans made it so that world oil prices collapsed, leaving Moscow without an influx of foreign exchange. They were able to convince the Europeans to help them. And with the help of sanctions and the introduction of export controls in the NATO countries, they blocked the flow of advanced Western technologies to the USSR (technologies for the extraction of hydrocarbons, computers, microelectronics, machine tools, etc.).
Also, America began a new arms race, frightening everyone with "Star Wars".
Finding weak points
By crushing Western Europe in 1936-1940, Hitler made excellent use of the enemy's weaknesses. Found their Achilles heel. In fact, the Reagan administration did the same.
In just ten years (1981-1991), the Americans were successful. They forced Moscow to capitulate, sending a haze to the Soviet elite. They created the illusion of their power, invincibility, and made the enemy believe in his alleged weakness.
The advantage of the United States was that it fought the USSR in earnest. They planned to solve the "Russian question".
In Moscow, they already believed in "peaceful coexistence", convergence.
The American system had "think tanks" that collected information about the enemy, studied us thoroughly and very carefully. Economy, armed forces, society and culture, psychology of the lower and upper classes. As a result, the American elite knew Russia in many ways better than the Kremlin of that time.
The Achilles' heel of the USSR was found in Washington.
They paid attention to the development of philistine psychology among the masses and the top of the Union. After Stalin's departure, the Soviet elite abandoned the forced development of society and the country, the creation of a civilization of the future, a society of knowledge of service and creation.
Khrushchev introduced egalitarianism, destroying the healthy hierarchy that began to take shape under the red emperor. When the truly best people of the country (aces pilots, Heroes of the Union and Heroes of Labor, scientists, designers and engineers, teachers and teachers, doctors, highly skilled workers, etc.) became a true Soviet aristocracy.
The incentive for improvement and development was destroyed. The "stagnation" began. The period of Brezhnev's "big deal" at the top and bottom. When ordinary people got the opportunity to rejoice in philistine joys, without rapid development, growth in labor productivity. And the top could rejoice at "stability".
The idea is being introduced that everything can be bought in the West (in the Russian Federation they repeated the same mistake).
We will sell oil and buy new technology in Europe. We will buy everything you need. German machines, grain from the USA, Austrian footwear, Finnish household appliances, etc. We switched from shopping to blind copying. The development of computers died under Brezhnev, they switched to copying computers from IBM.
As a result, the late USSR began to rely not on its own strength, but on the purchase or copying of Western developments. Not everywhere and in everything, but to a large extent.
The West realized that if the receipts of foreign currency to the USSR from the export of oil and gas were sharply reduced and the channels for the supply of new technologies, machine tools, equipment, consumer goods were closed, then it would be possible to put pressure on Moscow. At the same time, it is necessary to increase Russia's expenditures on the arms race, aid to the Warsaw Pact countries, Asian and African "brothers", to draw even deeper into Afghanistan, to clash with the Islamic world.
Westernization
The masters of the West were able at this time to carry out a conceptual and informational "occupation" of the consciousness of Soviet society, and especially the upper classes. Westernization of the Soviet elite.
Approximately, as in the Russian Empire, when the noble "Europeans" existed separately from the people. When for them the first language was German, French and English. When they preferred Novgorod and Ryazan - Rome, Venice, Berlin or Paris. They lived and breathed European culture and history.
In particular, if only a limited repertoire of Western cinematography was available to the Soviet people, then party bosses, officials, heads of education and trade departments had the opportunity of closed film screenings. They were arranged in large cities. The Western way of life has captivated many. The consumer society ("golden calf") began to supplant the faded ideals of revolutionary and military Soviet Russia.
Stalin's ideocracy was destroyed, the "Western devil" who was hiding behind the lush clothes of a beautiful life came to an empty place. Many people wanted to live as beautifully and sweetly as the heroes of the films, representatives of the upper and middle class in Western Europe and the USA.
The late Union could not offer any alternative, only empty slogans and the dullness of being. Then VCRs came in, and Soviet bosses could watch Western films at home. Pretty women against the background of villas and yachts turned out to be stronger than ballistic missiles.
Year outside the city, the Western way of life seduced first the Soviet elite, and then all the inhabitants.
As a result, a powerful hidden “fifth column” appeared in the USSR, ready to surrender all the achievements of Soviet civilization for a beautiful life.
Also at the same time, a strong belief arose that the USSR / Russia was a hopelessly sick country, incapable of anything worthwhile. That we can only use the advanced achievements of the West and follow in its wake. Everything that comes from the West is the highest truth. It is clear that as soon as the opportunity arose, such people surrendered with squeals of joy, surrendered the country and the people for Western "cookies".
Thus, Western cinema, pop music, fashion, style, etc. - all this became part of the cultural, informational weapon with which they destroyed Great Russia (USSR).
At the time of perestroika, there were already millions of people in the USSR who were thrilled with everything Western, American. They were ready to become second-rate Germans and Americans, just to gain access to the consumption standards in the countries "showcase capitalism." Consume, considering pleasure to be the highest good and value of a person.
In general, all the same (but at a new stage) has been repeated again in the last 30 years.
Young generations of citizens of the Russian Federation, Ukraine or Belarus are ready to become citizens of the second or third class in the EU countries, the USA, Canada and Australia, just to flee from “this country”. This is a heavy defeat in the conceptual, cultural and information war.
The Gorbachevites surrendered the country for an illusory opportunity to become part of the global elite, to become “masters of life,” owners of capital and property, and to privatize the national heritage.
Millions of ordinary people accepted this surrender. In the hope of a “beautiful life” by the standards of the countries of the “golden billion”. Villas, yachts, cars, striptease, beautiful clothes and dozens of varieties of sausages.
The main consequence is the extinction of almost all indigenous peoples of the former USSR. The reason is the absence of creative, life-affirming motives in life and values. Because empty consumption is an unprincipled surrogate, a blind path to disaster.
And the result expected from America is that Russia is again at a broken trough.
Without a new constructive project, without ideals, without a positive image of the future, Russian civilization and all its fragments are doomed to perish during the 21st century.
