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Η νίκη... Η μυστική στρατηγική της αμερικανικής κυβέρνησης που προκάλεσε την κατάρρευση της Σοβιετικής Ένωσης
Η μυστική στρατηγική του Πενταγώνου για τη χρεοκοπία της σοβιετικής οικονομίας όπως περιγράφεται σε μια άκρως απόρρητη οδηγία εφαρμογής πενταετούς σχεδίου.
Η απόρρητη απόφαση του Εθνικού Συμβουλίου, υπογεγραμμένη από τον πρόεδρο Reagan που κηρύσσει οικονομικό πόλεμο κατά της Σοβιετικής Ένωσης.
Οι μυστικές διπλωματικές προσπάθειες για την πτώση των διεθνών τιμών καυσίμων, που ενίσχυσαν την αμερικανική οικονομία, ενώ ταυτόχρονα κόστιζαν στο Κρεμλίνο δισεκατομμύρια δολάρια ετησίως.
Το επικίνδυνο παιχνίδι της χρησιμοποίησης Αφγανών μουτζαχεντίν για στρατιωτικά πλήγματα εντός του σοβιετικού εδάφους.
Η παράτολμη καλυμμένη επιχείρηση που στήριζε το κίνημα της «Αλληλεγγύης» στην Πολωνία.
Η απόρρητη απόφαση του Εθνικού Συμβουλίου, υπογεγραμμένη από τον πρόεδρο Reagan που κηρύσσει οικονομικό πόλεμο κατά της Σοβιετικής Ένωσης.
Οι μυστικές διπλωματικές προσπάθειες για την πτώση των διεθνών τιμών καυσίμων, που ενίσχυσαν την αμερικανική οικονομία, ενώ ταυτόχρονα κόστιζαν στο Κρεμλίνο δισεκατομμύρια δολάρια ετησίως.
Το επικίνδυνο παιχνίδι της χρησιμοποίησης Αφγανών μουτζαχεντίν για στρατιωτικά πλήγματα εντός του σοβιετικού εδάφους.
Η παράτολμη καλυμμένη επιχείρηση που στήριζε το κίνημα της «Αλληλεγγύης» στην Πολωνία.
365 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
88 people are currently reading
299 people want to read
About the author
Peter Schweizer
59 books412 followersPeter Schweizer is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. From 2008-'09 he served as a consultant to the White House Office of Presidential Speechwriting and he is a former consultant to NBC News. He has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, National Review, Foreign Affairs, and elsewhere. His books include The Bushes, Reagan's War, and Do as I Say, Not as I Do.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
August 24, 2021
Ηταν η εφαρμοσθείσα εξωτερική πολίτικη των ΗΠΑ, της δεκαετίας του 1980, η βασική αιτία της πτώσης της Σοβιετικής Ένωσης;
Ο συγγραφέας απαντάει κατηγορηματικά, ΝΑΙ.
Ο Ριγκαν (και η "ομάδα" του) πρώτα οραματίστηκε και ύστερα εφάρμοσε μια εξωτερική πολιτική, που τελικώς γκρέμισε το σοβιετικό οικοδόμημα, όταν όλοι οι άλλοι ισχυρίζονταν πως αυτό ήταν αδύνατον.
Ο συγγραφέας απαντάει κατηγορηματικά, ΝΑΙ.
Ο Ριγκαν (και η "ομάδα" του) πρώτα οραματίστηκε και ύστερα εφάρμοσε μια εξωτερική πολιτική, που τελικώς γκρέμισε το σοβιετικό οικοδόμημα, όταν όλοι οι άλλοι ισχυρίζονταν πως αυτό ήταν αδύνατον.
May 5, 2019
My Facebook Friend Peter Schweizer has written an excellent book which gives the full truth about Ronald Reagan’s lasting and meaningful contributions to the collapse of the USSR and the end of the Cold War. Peter gives facts and perspectives routinely ignored by the leftists in academia and the so-called “mainstream” media alike (these pundits instead choose to heap all the credit upon Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the LOSER of the Cold War!!!).
I first read this book way back in the summer of 1995, in-between my sophomore and junior year at the USC School of International Relations, and I finally re-read it this year as one of my sources for a research paper in my Masters degree coursework, and the book proved very helpful, for which I’m quite grateful to Peter!
I first read this book way back in the summer of 1995, in-between my sophomore and junior year at the USC School of International Relations, and I finally re-read it this year as one of my sources for a research paper in my Masters degree coursework, and the book proved very helpful, for which I’m quite grateful to Peter!
January 17, 2018
More than ever I thought it quite appropriate to relate to history on dealing with aggressor nations and I saw a good number of historical parallels to now: presidential critics refusing to give any credit to any of the President's policies, those who wish to compromise with hostile nations after years of failed foreign policy, and "doom and gloom" prophesies of a national policy aimed at rolling back influence and gains of aggressor nations that would lead to war.
The author names names of those who refused to at least acknowledge any sort of correlation of the most anti-communist President rising to power and the likely hastening of the fall of the Soviet Union: Strobe Talbott, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., George McGovern, Walter Mondale, and many of the "elite" who seemed to take exception of a relatively uneducated President through his instincts was able to formulate a national strategy intent on waging economic war on the Soviet Union through advanced weaponry development, choking of key electronics critical to the USSR's oil empire, drive the price of oil via OPEC to devastate Soviet currency, significant support to Polish Solidarity, and convince western companies to reduce investment with Soviet companies.
Together with Mr. Reagan intentionally creating an unpredictable persona significantly put the Soviet Union in a great amount of uncertainty, as attested to by those in the Soviet Politburo interviewed by the author.
Overall I give this a 4/5. For the most part the author limited his contempt to a few pages towards the Progressive voices who claimed the Soviet Union was thriving and it was the west in decline.
This is a story that is not told very often nowadays, especially with many political historians crediting the fall of the Soviet Union due more to Perestroika and Glasnost, but what is not understood is that the catalyst for those changes were the desperate attempts to mitigate the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, or Star Wars) as well as the dwindling currency and electrical components to the USSR.
To not give Reagan any credit in at least the hastening of the USSR is akin, as the author states, to focusing on the fall of the Confederacy only in terms of Confederate policies only.
The author names names of those who refused to at least acknowledge any sort of correlation of the most anti-communist President rising to power and the likely hastening of the fall of the Soviet Union: Strobe Talbott, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., George McGovern, Walter Mondale, and many of the "elite" who seemed to take exception of a relatively uneducated President through his instincts was able to formulate a national strategy intent on waging economic war on the Soviet Union through advanced weaponry development, choking of key electronics critical to the USSR's oil empire, drive the price of oil via OPEC to devastate Soviet currency, significant support to Polish Solidarity, and convince western companies to reduce investment with Soviet companies.
Together with Mr. Reagan intentionally creating an unpredictable persona significantly put the Soviet Union in a great amount of uncertainty, as attested to by those in the Soviet Politburo interviewed by the author.
Overall I give this a 4/5. For the most part the author limited his contempt to a few pages towards the Progressive voices who claimed the Soviet Union was thriving and it was the west in decline.
This is a story that is not told very often nowadays, especially with many political historians crediting the fall of the Soviet Union due more to Perestroika and Glasnost, but what is not understood is that the catalyst for those changes were the desperate attempts to mitigate the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, or Star Wars) as well as the dwindling currency and electrical components to the USSR.
To not give Reagan any credit in at least the hastening of the USSR is akin, as the author states, to focusing on the fall of the Confederacy only in terms of Confederate policies only.
November 4, 2020
Its strange to think that I used some stuff from here in the past to back up a theory of spam industrial espionage. Having now read it from cover to cover (as opposed to citing the references without proper due diligence, mea culpa) I wouldn't recommend this to anyone other than as an example of how not to write.
The first thing to realise is that Peter Schweizer is a bit of a Right Wing demagogue. Since the publication of this tome in 1994, Schweizer has gone on to publish some other work of dubious quality, sourcing and truth. ‘Victory’ is no different. Add to this the fact that Schweizer is now a roving editor for Breitbart News and strongly associated with the master of spin, Steve Bannon, then one begins to question the validity of everything he writes and to look far more closely than one should need to at the sourcing of alleged ‘facts’ that Scweizer quotes. Schweizer was fully acculturated into the art of Fake News before Fake News was even Fake News. He has also been employed on muck-raking duties on Democrats in the US. Three quarters of his references are totally unverifiable. Usually when a writer puts ‘Interview with author’ as the source of a quote or a citation, we take it that this is part of a personal exposé and wonder (commonly) at the depth of connections of the writer. In Schweizer’s case however, one is left with the feeling that a vast amount of the references he has used to write the book are basically unverifiable. Therefore the whole validity and veracity of what Schweizer suggests is totally out the windae.
Add further to this that the writing is vaingloriously melodramatic as to being almost a hagiography for the confirmed liar and Director of the CIA, William Casey, then you might begin to doubt why this book was written. Take into account also that Schweizer was a William Casey Fellowship researcher at Stanford University's Hoover Institution then it all begins to smell a bit iffy. Read his entry in the Wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_S...) for the number of times he has been pulled by more thorough journos on his reported ‘facts’. The main thesis is that Reagan’s policies brought about the break up of the Soviet Union. Through policies pursued with Saudi Arabia, Israel, China, and the Vatican as well as other governments, the US determined to hasten the break up of the Soviet Union to bring about the demise of international Communism à la Marxist/Leninist. What this all amounts to is a covert economic and political war against the Soviet Union through the 80’s.
The selection of what to mention and what to leave out is quite spectacular. Whilst praising Pakistani General Zia Al-Huq, who ousted Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in a military coup and instituted martial law in Pakistan, for his part in supporting American aid to the mujahideen in Afghanistan and establishing a pipeline for American sophisticated military equipment, it says nothing about Zia’s pushing through of Pakistan’s atomic programme to build a usable nuclear weapon. This occurred at exactly the same time. Given the wide scope of CIA intelligence operations this must have been known to the US which must have chosen to turn a blind eye to this, along with the counterflow of heroin from Afghanistan into Pakistan and onward.
It is this one-sided view laid down by Schweizer that begins to grate on anyone with half an ounce of even-mindedness and ability to go out there and search for the sources that are available in contrast to his views. What else was happening at the time all this was going down which shows these events in a differing light from the one Schweizer would have cast upon them? It is easy to check. Reading Taubman’s book on Gorbachev: His Life and Times presents a far wider view of what went down than Schweizer’s one-eyed writing. Dates are at times left vague and unfulfilled so that it is at times extremely difficult to build a timeline through the pages of ‘Victory’. Never mind that the opening of the Saudi oil taps in August ’85 caused the almost complete shutdown of world-wide hydrocarbon exploration and the devastation of American domestic production and exploration, it caused the decrease in foreign revenue to the USSR and therefore it was valid even though the US domestic industry suffered excessively (a point put out by Vice-President George Bush and for which he was publicly reprimanded by Reagan). Behind it all lurks the spectre of Iran - Contra affair which would explode and illuminate many of the parties herein in a very different light.
By all means read it.... but read it with a salt cellar and a shovel handy. It is a selective view at best and downright twisted at worst. And I don't even want to mention the legality or morality of some of the tactics used or even their efficacy in the light of subsequent events.
The first thing to realise is that Peter Schweizer is a bit of a Right Wing demagogue. Since the publication of this tome in 1994, Schweizer has gone on to publish some other work of dubious quality, sourcing and truth. ‘Victory’ is no different. Add to this the fact that Schweizer is now a roving editor for Breitbart News and strongly associated with the master of spin, Steve Bannon, then one begins to question the validity of everything he writes and to look far more closely than one should need to at the sourcing of alleged ‘facts’ that Scweizer quotes. Schweizer was fully acculturated into the art of Fake News before Fake News was even Fake News. He has also been employed on muck-raking duties on Democrats in the US. Three quarters of his references are totally unverifiable. Usually when a writer puts ‘Interview with author’ as the source of a quote or a citation, we take it that this is part of a personal exposé and wonder (commonly) at the depth of connections of the writer. In Schweizer’s case however, one is left with the feeling that a vast amount of the references he has used to write the book are basically unverifiable. Therefore the whole validity and veracity of what Schweizer suggests is totally out the windae.
Add further to this that the writing is vaingloriously melodramatic as to being almost a hagiography for the confirmed liar and Director of the CIA, William Casey, then you might begin to doubt why this book was written. Take into account also that Schweizer was a William Casey Fellowship researcher at Stanford University's Hoover Institution then it all begins to smell a bit iffy. Read his entry in the Wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_S...) for the number of times he has been pulled by more thorough journos on his reported ‘facts’. The main thesis is that Reagan’s policies brought about the break up of the Soviet Union. Through policies pursued with Saudi Arabia, Israel, China, and the Vatican as well as other governments, the US determined to hasten the break up of the Soviet Union to bring about the demise of international Communism à la Marxist/Leninist. What this all amounts to is a covert economic and political war against the Soviet Union through the 80’s.
The selection of what to mention and what to leave out is quite spectacular. Whilst praising Pakistani General Zia Al-Huq, who ousted Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in a military coup and instituted martial law in Pakistan, for his part in supporting American aid to the mujahideen in Afghanistan and establishing a pipeline for American sophisticated military equipment, it says nothing about Zia’s pushing through of Pakistan’s atomic programme to build a usable nuclear weapon. This occurred at exactly the same time. Given the wide scope of CIA intelligence operations this must have been known to the US which must have chosen to turn a blind eye to this, along with the counterflow of heroin from Afghanistan into Pakistan and onward.
It is this one-sided view laid down by Schweizer that begins to grate on anyone with half an ounce of even-mindedness and ability to go out there and search for the sources that are available in contrast to his views. What else was happening at the time all this was going down which shows these events in a differing light from the one Schweizer would have cast upon them? It is easy to check. Reading Taubman’s book on Gorbachev: His Life and Times presents a far wider view of what went down than Schweizer’s one-eyed writing. Dates are at times left vague and unfulfilled so that it is at times extremely difficult to build a timeline through the pages of ‘Victory’. Never mind that the opening of the Saudi oil taps in August ’85 caused the almost complete shutdown of world-wide hydrocarbon exploration and the devastation of American domestic production and exploration, it caused the decrease in foreign revenue to the USSR and therefore it was valid even though the US domestic industry suffered excessively (a point put out by Vice-President George Bush and for which he was publicly reprimanded by Reagan). Behind it all lurks the spectre of Iran - Contra affair which would explode and illuminate many of the parties herein in a very different light.
By all means read it.... but read it with a salt cellar and a shovel handy. It is a selective view at best and downright twisted at worst. And I don't even want to mention the legality or morality of some of the tactics used or even their efficacy in the light of subsequent events.
May 5, 2019
My Facebook Friend Peter Schweizer has written an excellent book which gives the full truth about Ronald Reagan’s lasting and meaningful contributions to the collapse of the USSR and the end of the Cold War. Peter gives facts and perspectives routinely ignored by the leftists in academia and the so-called “mainstream” media alike (these pundits instead choose to heap all the credit upon Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the LOSER of the Cold War!!!).
I first read this book way back in the summer of 1995, in-between my sophomore and junior year at the USC School of International Relations, and I finally re-read it this year as one of my sources for a research paper in my Masters degree coursework, and the book proved very helpful, for which I’m quite grateful to Peter!
I first read this book way back in the summer of 1995, in-between my sophomore and junior year at the USC School of International Relations, and I finally re-read it this year as one of my sources for a research paper in my Masters degree coursework, and the book proved very helpful, for which I’m quite grateful to Peter!
May 25, 2019
The same nincompoops that botched not one, but two Iraq wars have conspired and done well with the Soviet Union.
If this piece were written in 1979, I'd say what a genius. Only this is yet another academic paper pusher playing connect the dots while waiting for his natural tax paid pension plan.
If this piece were written in 1979, I'd say what a genius. Only this is yet another academic paper pusher playing connect the dots while waiting for his natural tax paid pension plan.
June 27, 2020
Entertaining read, but -the "fall of the USSR" was more complex than Schweizer's neo-con thesis allows. No doubt the actions presented here did play their part. But sabotage and covert warfare were endemic in Soviet-Western relations from 1917, alternating with periods of detente. To grant Schweizer's thesis, as some reviewers have uncritically done, only raises new questions, such as:
Was the Soviet "collapse" thus due to sabotage, wrecking, spies and agents and not its "failed system?" For those leaping to answer "both", why should the early 80s have been any different in themselves? No national economy, no matter how successful (like West Germany) could have withstood a determined US onslaught on all fronts. Playing upon Soviet weaknesses, as Schweizer suggests, only begs these questions. Thus was Stalin "right" after all, that the Soviet economy was victim to a well-orchestrated enemy conspiracy of "wreckers," and not any systemic shortcomings of central planning? In fact, the USSR had already hit an industrial impasse, as in the American rust belt. "New thinking" was uppermost in leading Party minds long before Reagan ever took office the first time; a crisis prolonged on ice by Brezhnev's refusal to die. This might explain perestroika leaders' readiness to blame their own system , agreeing with their neo-con US adversaries, for its self-destruction. One exception was Yegor Ligachev, who in his memoirs credits the fear of old apparatchiks for new technology and new thinking - rather than the institutions themselves - in causing the USSR's lag. This has to be as great a factor as Reagan's covert sabotage program.
Ultimately, Reagan's personal relationship with Gorby was equally decisive as Casey's capers in changing the Soviet course. In fact Gorby was hated by the hard core neo-cons precisely because his extended hand to the West thwarted their trope of all-conquering Evil Empire (as he intended it to do). Schweizer inadvertently exposes this image as a complete deceit: DI Casey's private assessments constantly reiterated the "weakness", "stagnation", and "vulnerability" of the Soviet economy, while publicly magnifying its threat and ramping up "the strategic necessity" of Star Wars systems.
Schweizer also downplays the blowback from said victory, such as the rise of militant Islam following the Afghan jihad. Writing in the mid-90s he couldn't know of 9/11, of course, but the beards and green banners were already fluttering in the ill winds. And if hi-tech sabotage was so instrumental in the Soviet collapse, might it have also been responsible for Chernobyl, rather than lax maintenance security? Another, albeit covert Hiroshima to end a global conflict and "save lives". . . .
He also writes of "a stake driven silently through the heart of the Soviet economy" in 1985, by allowing the Saudis to turn on the oil spigot. Schweizer nicely avoids the fact that this also spiked US domestic production, as well as costing the USSR hard currency revenue. Whole regions of the US were devastated that have never truly recovered, no matter how many inland casinos have sprung up afterward. Let's not go into the general devastation wrought by supply-side "Reaganomics" at home, except to say that what worked for the goose can cook the gander.
And in showing the CIA connections flowing to Solidarity, Czech, and other Soviet-bloc dissidents, he unwittingly confirms the KGB contention that democracy and human rights movements were merely enemy fifth columns "deserving" repression. Imagine the reaction if it were proved M. L. King's movement was really KGB-subsidized all the time - wait! That's what Reaganites believed already. But at least Walesa and Havel did survive, to lead their nations and write their memoirs. Ultimately, it was Yeltsin (think of him as Reagan's legacy in Moscow, Bill Casey's posthumous "inside man") who gave the coup de grace to the first Ronald Reagan Freedom Award winner. Might this have been Reagan's intent all along, conning Gorby into neglecting his back as "Brutus" Boris drew near? Schweizer does not ask such questions; he came only to bury Ceasar, not to praise him.
Was the Soviet "collapse" thus due to sabotage, wrecking, spies and agents and not its "failed system?" For those leaping to answer "both", why should the early 80s have been any different in themselves? No national economy, no matter how successful (like West Germany) could have withstood a determined US onslaught on all fronts. Playing upon Soviet weaknesses, as Schweizer suggests, only begs these questions. Thus was Stalin "right" after all, that the Soviet economy was victim to a well-orchestrated enemy conspiracy of "wreckers," and not any systemic shortcomings of central planning? In fact, the USSR had already hit an industrial impasse, as in the American rust belt. "New thinking" was uppermost in leading Party minds long before Reagan ever took office the first time; a crisis prolonged on ice by Brezhnev's refusal to die. This might explain perestroika leaders' readiness to blame their own system , agreeing with their neo-con US adversaries, for its self-destruction. One exception was Yegor Ligachev, who in his memoirs credits the fear of old apparatchiks for new technology and new thinking - rather than the institutions themselves - in causing the USSR's lag. This has to be as great a factor as Reagan's covert sabotage program.
Ultimately, Reagan's personal relationship with Gorby was equally decisive as Casey's capers in changing the Soviet course. In fact Gorby was hated by the hard core neo-cons precisely because his extended hand to the West thwarted their trope of all-conquering Evil Empire (as he intended it to do). Schweizer inadvertently exposes this image as a complete deceit: DI Casey's private assessments constantly reiterated the "weakness", "stagnation", and "vulnerability" of the Soviet economy, while publicly magnifying its threat and ramping up "the strategic necessity" of Star Wars systems.
Schweizer also downplays the blowback from said victory, such as the rise of militant Islam following the Afghan jihad. Writing in the mid-90s he couldn't know of 9/11, of course, but the beards and green banners were already fluttering in the ill winds. And if hi-tech sabotage was so instrumental in the Soviet collapse, might it have also been responsible for Chernobyl, rather than lax maintenance security? Another, albeit covert Hiroshima to end a global conflict and "save lives". . . .
He also writes of "a stake driven silently through the heart of the Soviet economy" in 1985, by allowing the Saudis to turn on the oil spigot. Schweizer nicely avoids the fact that this also spiked US domestic production, as well as costing the USSR hard currency revenue. Whole regions of the US were devastated that have never truly recovered, no matter how many inland casinos have sprung up afterward. Let's not go into the general devastation wrought by supply-side "Reaganomics" at home, except to say that what worked for the goose can cook the gander.
And in showing the CIA connections flowing to Solidarity, Czech, and other Soviet-bloc dissidents, he unwittingly confirms the KGB contention that democracy and human rights movements were merely enemy fifth columns "deserving" repression. Imagine the reaction if it were proved M. L. King's movement was really KGB-subsidized all the time - wait! That's what Reaganites believed already. But at least Walesa and Havel did survive, to lead their nations and write their memoirs. Ultimately, it was Yeltsin (think of him as Reagan's legacy in Moscow, Bill Casey's posthumous "inside man") who gave the coup de grace to the first Ronald Reagan Freedom Award winner. Might this have been Reagan's intent all along, conning Gorby into neglecting his back as "Brutus" Boris drew near? Schweizer does not ask such questions; he came only to bury Ceasar, not to praise him.
July 30, 2024
This is a good exposé of covert operations against the USSR during the Reagan years.
I found it interesting that the other reviews here pointed out the author is apparently a strong right-winger now who works at Breitbart News and founded a think tank with Steve Bannon, because I didn't get that impression from the book. Sure, the number of 'interviews with the author' that are cited does indicate a privileged level of access (implying a certain trust by the interviewees that they will be portrayed in a good light), so I did approach this as an 'official history' of sorts, but that said I personally found it shocking how much the US was interfering in foreign affairs in this period. If anything, it's even more disgusting that this is the crowing of a supportive writer rather than say a left-wing critic intent on digging up dirt.
I came to this mainly to see what it had to say about US support for Solidarity in Poland, and it certainly adds colour by talking about what meetings took place between various groups, the level of support, and the different motives at play. The CIA used connections with 'neutral' third countries like Sweden and Switzerland to smuggle in high tech equipment such as printing presses and radios, as well as millions of dollars in cash. They encouraged the AFL-CIO to financially support Solidarity and also met with Vatican representatives to share intelligence. (The church was apparently unwilling to enter closer collaboration, although it already had an aid programme operational in Poland at the time.)
The Afghanistan material was less interesting, basically the same things that the US has done long since in that region, manipulating oil prices, selling arms to various proxies, selective intelligence sharing with plausible deniability, close collaboration with the Pakistani military, etc
There was also a lot of stuff about export sanctions, which were apparently tightened up a lot through specific legislation and pressure on friendly governments in Europe, at the same time that the Regan admin loudly talked about the 'SDI' high-tech arms race. The CIA commissioned reports on the USSR economy to figure out where its most vulnerable areas were. They specifically hampered technologies required for a new, strategically important oil pipeline, in part through a programme of industrial counter-espionage (selling bogus blueprints to the USSR on the black market). This was probably the most sinister thread of the book because it was such a calculated effort to really drive the knife in to a clearly struggling economy, an effort which only a few years later led to terrible poverty, unemployment and inequality in the former USSR which continues to this day.
It's definitely a bit limited in looking only at the effects of US foreign policy on the USSR economy and military - as other reviews point out, it makes almost no mention of glasnost, perestroika, entrenched bureacracy, etc and to what degree these internal changes were influenced by external factors. There's also a lack of context on the existing political situation in Afghanistan and Poland - I think partly because at the time the book was written, these issues were a lot more current, but also this is where the author's right wing bona fides shine through so there's no discussion of the relative political merits of the legitimate government of Afghanistan vs the mujahideen. The author is basically on Reagan's side hence the valedictory title.
I found it interesting that the other reviews here pointed out the author is apparently a strong right-winger now who works at Breitbart News and founded a think tank with Steve Bannon, because I didn't get that impression from the book. Sure, the number of 'interviews with the author' that are cited does indicate a privileged level of access (implying a certain trust by the interviewees that they will be portrayed in a good light), so I did approach this as an 'official history' of sorts, but that said I personally found it shocking how much the US was interfering in foreign affairs in this period. If anything, it's even more disgusting that this is the crowing of a supportive writer rather than say a left-wing critic intent on digging up dirt.
I came to this mainly to see what it had to say about US support for Solidarity in Poland, and it certainly adds colour by talking about what meetings took place between various groups, the level of support, and the different motives at play. The CIA used connections with 'neutral' third countries like Sweden and Switzerland to smuggle in high tech equipment such as printing presses and radios, as well as millions of dollars in cash. They encouraged the AFL-CIO to financially support Solidarity and also met with Vatican representatives to share intelligence. (The church was apparently unwilling to enter closer collaboration, although it already had an aid programme operational in Poland at the time.)
The Afghanistan material was less interesting, basically the same things that the US has done long since in that region, manipulating oil prices, selling arms to various proxies, selective intelligence sharing with plausible deniability, close collaboration with the Pakistani military, etc
There was also a lot of stuff about export sanctions, which were apparently tightened up a lot through specific legislation and pressure on friendly governments in Europe, at the same time that the Regan admin loudly talked about the 'SDI' high-tech arms race. The CIA commissioned reports on the USSR economy to figure out where its most vulnerable areas were. They specifically hampered technologies required for a new, strategically important oil pipeline, in part through a programme of industrial counter-espionage (selling bogus blueprints to the USSR on the black market). This was probably the most sinister thread of the book because it was such a calculated effort to really drive the knife in to a clearly struggling economy, an effort which only a few years later led to terrible poverty, unemployment and inequality in the former USSR which continues to this day.
It's definitely a bit limited in looking only at the effects of US foreign policy on the USSR economy and military - as other reviews point out, it makes almost no mention of glasnost, perestroika, entrenched bureacracy, etc and to what degree these internal changes were influenced by external factors. There's also a lack of context on the existing political situation in Afghanistan and Poland - I think partly because at the time the book was written, these issues were a lot more current, but also this is where the author's right wing bona fides shine through so there's no discussion of the relative political merits of the legitimate government of Afghanistan vs the mujahideen. The author is basically on Reagan's side hence the valedictory title.
February 10, 2020
A Look at Reagan’s War Against the Evil Empire
This book argues that the United States won the Cold War largely because of the aggressive policies pursued by President Ronald Reagan. This book specifically points to the economic warfare waged against the Soviet Union, the American support given to Solidarity in Poland and the Mujahadin in Afghanistan, as well as the active campaign to persuade Saudi Arabia to increase its oil production and thereby drive down global oil prices as the policies that eventually brought the Soviet Union to defeat.
I found the author’s arguments persuasive. In addition, I found this book to be very well researched, including information based on personal interviews with many of the main players in this drama. What’s more, these interviews didn’t rely on a single person or a handful of interviewees, which means that the information gathered from interviews was corroborated by interviews with multiple others.
My one reservation about this book is that it seems to overlook several other key Cold War events during the Reagan Administration, including the Able Archer NATO exercise, which almost resulted in nuclear war; I would like to know what psychological impact this crisis had on the Soviet leadership. Or the connection between the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown in 1986 and the downfall of the Soviet Union, as well as President Reagan’s speech at the Berlin Wall during which he said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about Reagan’s war against Communism, or simply how the Soviet Union lost the Cold War.
This book argues that the United States won the Cold War largely because of the aggressive policies pursued by President Ronald Reagan. This book specifically points to the economic warfare waged against the Soviet Union, the American support given to Solidarity in Poland and the Mujahadin in Afghanistan, as well as the active campaign to persuade Saudi Arabia to increase its oil production and thereby drive down global oil prices as the policies that eventually brought the Soviet Union to defeat.
I found the author’s arguments persuasive. In addition, I found this book to be very well researched, including information based on personal interviews with many of the main players in this drama. What’s more, these interviews didn’t rely on a single person or a handful of interviewees, which means that the information gathered from interviews was corroborated by interviews with multiple others.
My one reservation about this book is that it seems to overlook several other key Cold War events during the Reagan Administration, including the Able Archer NATO exercise, which almost resulted in nuclear war; I would like to know what psychological impact this crisis had on the Soviet leadership. Or the connection between the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown in 1986 and the downfall of the Soviet Union, as well as President Reagan’s speech at the Berlin Wall during which he said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about Reagan’s war against Communism, or simply how the Soviet Union lost the Cold War.
October 19, 2020
Victory: The Reagan Administration's Secret Strategy That Hastened the Collapse of the Soviet Union by Peter Schweizer presents the strategies and tactics developed and used by the Reagan administration that helped bring about the demise of the Soviet Union. At its core the idea was to find and implement ways to undermine the soviet economy and its influence in the soviet empire. The author provides facts and contributions of the Reagan team to keeping the pressure on until the soviet economy finally imploded and the Soviet Union itself dissolved. Most of the credit has been attributed to Mikhail Gorbachev by the left in America who ignore what influenced him to loosen the controls on the soviet peoples...the economic pressure that required less controls in order to prevent an economic meltdown. It comes down to being able to give credit for an accomplishment of their ideological opposites and rather misdirecting the true credit. Would the Soviet Union have failed eventually on its own? Very likely, but certainly the actions taken by the United States under President Ronald Reagan speeded things up. Great read for anyone interested in Cold War politics and economics.
December 27, 2019
A very interesting topic and a well argued case. There is a lot to commend this book. However, I felt that it was let down by a poor editor and, in this edition, a lack of competent proof reading.
The structure could have been sharper, making the book more concise. Section breaks in chapters seem without clear reason, giving the book a stilted feel, and there is a lot of repetition. In one case it feels as though a whole report is reproduced over several pages when it could easily have been summarised in 2-3 chapters.
Still an interesting book but it would have benefited from stronger editing.
The structure could have been sharper, making the book more concise. Section breaks in chapters seem without clear reason, giving the book a stilted feel, and there is a lot of repetition. In one case it feels as though a whole report is reproduced over several pages when it could easily have been summarised in 2-3 chapters.
Still an interesting book but it would have benefited from stronger editing.
September 14, 2022
Very interesting historical account. Presented many aspects that I was unaware of.
December 25, 2024
《里根政府是怎样搞垮苏联的》
在里根政府打击苏联政策制定过程中，中情局局长威廉•凯西和国防部长卡斯帕•温伯格起重要作用，该政策如下：
1.以隐蔽手段支持波兰工会，确保反对派在苏联帝国心脏地带生存
2.对阿富汗抵抗组织、穆斯林游击队提供支持，把战争引向苏联中亚地区、引向苏联自身
3.与沙特合作压低石油价格，限制苏联向西方出口天然气，继而使苏联硬通货收入猛跌（美财政部估计，石油每桶降低1美元，苏联就损失5-10亿美元硬通货）
4.发动精神战，使苏联领导层优柔寡断
5.发动秘密外交之类的全球性战役，减少苏联获得西方高技术、贷款的可能性
6.散布假情报，进一步瓦解苏联经济
7.开展具有进攻性的高技术国防建设，使苏联的经济上感到压力，加剧其资源危机
上述战略之所以有这么大威力，是他们综合作用的结果，这些政策就像一阵阵强烈的巨风吹进虚弱的苏联体制。苏联的解体宣告共产主义的彻底失败！
国家安全决策（NSDDs）：NSDD-32要求“抵消”苏联在东欧控制，支持“隐蔽行动“以支持该地区反苏活动；NSDD-66要求对美国通过“战略性三位一体”（星球大战计划、美国军事建设、NSDD-66）瓦解苏联经济；NSDD-75要求从根本上改变苏联体制。上述三个国家安全决策循序渐进，一步步加剧苏联体制崩溃。
注：战略防御倡议（SDI），俗称星球大战计划，撒切尔夫人对该计划在欧洲的推动起重要作用。
美国大力支持波兰团结工会继而在苏联心脏地带制造麻烦的行为值得借鉴，即今日美国应支持中国境内持不同政见者（尽管他们多数处于地下状态）。此外梵蒂冈也大力支持波兰团结工会。
美国在天然气管道项目中对苏联实施技术禁运，但欧洲却不怎么配合（尤其是德国）。在今天，德国也和中共走得很近，因此美国要尽一切办法，拉拢欧洲，对抗中共，也可以采用当初里根政府采取的《出口管理与控制法》把制裁扩大到获得美国许可证的供应商和美国海外子公司，以避免他们向中共进行技术转让。
里根政府对苏联经济的脆弱性、苏联体制的根本缺陷有着深刻认识，今天的美国政府要有这种自信，即他们的资本主义自由民主制度一定会战胜中共的专制制度。
西方技术对于苏联的技术、军事基础或经济领域的生存能力至关重要，堪称苏联的生命线。因此，苏联千方百计地盗窃西方技术，更通过第三国规避制裁获取技术。今天的中共也如此。美国必须对此保持警惕，既要限制中共获得军用技术，也要限制中共获得民用技术。
美国在帮助阿富汗抵抗组织的过程中，巴基斯坦起到了重要作用。在对付苏联的时候，美国同时拉拢中国：在中苏边境安装电子窃听装置、在阿富汗问题上合作等。美国不只把战场局限于阿富汗北区，更推到苏联本土（指中亚地区），挑起苏联民族紧张关系，这一点美国可以借鉴，继而挑起新疆西藏日紧张关系。
务必取消中共最惠国待遇。
“美国之音”、“自由欧洲电台”等媒体在向苏联反对派的传递消息中起到了重要作用，因此今日美国要利用类似媒体为中国人民传递消息。
简单介绍作者彼得•施策威尔：2012年，作者与班农（曾任白宫首席策略长兼美国总统顾问；对华强硬：认为中国与纳粹德国类似，明确提出区分中共、中国和中国人民：因此，北京于川普卸任第一天制裁此人）创立Government Accountability Institute（该组织经常聚焦民主党）。作者亦是哈德逊研究所成员。由此两点可知，作者是保守派、对华鹰派！川普政府成员（第一任期）承认该书对政府政策有影响。另一部著作’Secret Empires: How Our Politicians Hide Corruption and Enrich Their Families and Friends’ 揭露拜登儿子的海外生意、赵小兰家族企业福茂集团与中国的关系。2022新作:Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win。2024新作: Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans
读必此书，心情极佳。本人是坚定挺川派，更希望川普政府能在第二任期内终结tg！
在里根政府打击苏联政策制定过程中，中情局局长威廉•凯西和国防部长卡斯帕•温伯格起重要作用，该政策如下：
1.以隐蔽手段支持波兰工会，确保反对派在苏联帝国心脏地带生存
2.对阿富汗抵抗组织、穆斯林游击队提供支持，把战争引向苏联中亚地区、引向苏联自身
3.与沙特合作压低石油价格，限制苏联向西方出口天然气，继而使苏联硬通货收入猛跌（美财政部估计，石油每桶降低1美元，苏联就损失5-10亿美元硬通货）
4.发动精神战，使苏联领导层优柔寡断
5.发动秘密外交之类的全球性战役，减少苏联获得西方高技术、贷款的可能性
6.散布假情报，进一步瓦解苏联经济
7.开展具有进攻性的高技术国防建设，使苏联的经济上感到压力，加剧其资源危机
上述战略之所以有这么大威力，是他们综合作用的结果，这些政策就像一阵阵强烈的巨风吹进虚弱的苏联体制。苏联的解体宣告共产主义的彻底失败！
国家安全决策（NSDDs）：NSDD-32要求“抵消”苏联在东欧控制，支持“隐蔽行动“以支持该地区反苏活动；NSDD-66要求对美国通过“战略性三位一体”（星球大战计划、美国军事建设、NSDD-66）瓦解苏联经济；NSDD-75要求从根本上改变苏联体制。上述三个国家安全决策循序渐进，一步步加剧苏联体制崩溃。
注：战略防御倡议（SDI），俗称星球大战计划，撒切尔夫人对该计划在欧洲的推动起重要作用。
美国大力支持波兰团结工会继而在苏联心脏地带制造麻烦的行为值得借鉴，即今日美国应支持中国境内持不同政见者（尽管他们多数处于地下状态）。此外梵蒂冈也大力支持波兰团结工会。
美国在天然气管道项目中对苏联实施技术禁运，但欧洲却不怎么配合（尤其是德国）。在今天，德国也和中共走得很近，因此美国要尽一切办法，拉拢欧洲，对抗中共，也可以采用当初里根政府采取的《出口管理与控制法》把制裁扩大到获得美国许可证的供应商和美国海外子公司，以避免他们向中共进行技术转让。
里根政府对苏联经济的脆弱性、苏联体制的根本缺陷有着深刻认识，今天的美国政府要有这种自信，即他们的资本主义自由民主制度一定会战胜中共的专制制度。
西方技术对于苏联的技术、军事基础或经济领域的生存能力至关重要，堪称苏联的生命线。因此，苏联千方百计地盗窃西方技术，更通过第三国规避制裁获取技术。今天的中共也如此。美国必须对此保持警惕，既要限制中共获得军用技术，也要限制中共获得民用技术。
美国在帮助阿富汗抵抗组织的过程中，巴基斯坦起到了重要作用。在对付苏联的时候，美国同时拉拢中国：在中苏边境安装电子窃听装置、在阿富汗问题上合作等。美国不只把战场局限于阿富汗北区，更推到苏联本土（指中亚地区），挑起苏联民族紧张关系，这一点美国可以借鉴，继而挑起新疆西藏日紧张关系。
务必取消中共最惠国待遇。
“美国之音”、“自由欧洲电台”等媒体在向苏联反对派的传递消息中起到了重要作用，因此今日美国要利用类似媒体为中国人民传递消息。
简单介绍作者彼得•施策威尔：2012年，作者与班农（曾任白宫首席策略长兼美国总统顾问；对华强硬：认为中国与纳粹德国类似，明确提出区分中共、中国和中国人民：因此，北京于川普卸任第一天制裁此人）创立Government Accountability Institute（该组织经常聚焦民主党）。作者亦是哈德逊研究所成员。由此两点可知，作者是保守派、对华鹰派！川普政府成员（第一任期）承认该书对政府政策有影响。另一部著作’Secret Empires: How Our Politicians Hide Corruption and Enrich Their Families and Friends’ 揭露拜登儿子的海外生意、赵小兰家族企业福茂集团与中国的关系。2022新作:Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win。2024新作: Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans
读必此书，心情极佳。本人是坚定挺川派，更希望川普政府能在第二任期内终结tg！
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 18, 2014
Extremely well written and relevant to current events. Published in 1997 Peter Schweizer chronicles the development and execution of President Reagan's multi-prong strategy to force the collapse of the Soviet Union. Focusing on the economic vulnerabilities and internal inconsistencies of the Soviet socialist system, Reagan and his closest advisors (Bill Casey in the lead), developed a coherent strategy which applied pressure along all lines of national power with the intent to cause the Soviet system to implode. Reagan's focus on economic warfare included efforts to drive down oil prices (limiting cash required for defense spending and fueling the government), to restrain access to technology (required to expand exports and modernize the military and industry), to expand and sustain Poland's Solidarity movement (weakening the strongest country of the Warsaw Pact and undermining the socialist ideology writ-large), to expand and sustain the capabilities of the mujahideen fighting the Soviet Army in Afghanistan (raising the military and social costs of the war), to modernize and expand US military capabilities beyond what the Soviets could afford to match, and more...all of which created the inevitable changes that brought Gorbachev, Perestroika, and eventually the collapse of the Soviet Union and the communist / socialist ideology. Schweizer argues that without Reagan's singular focus and overwhelming efforts this collapse may not have happened when it did.
Of greatest interest to me are the similarities in economic and political vulnerabilities that modern Russia has with its past: lack of economic diversity, over-dependence on gas & oil for cash reserves, limited R&D focus in civil and military sectors, dependence on external technology, autocratic political process that stifles critical thinking, innovation and political / market reform, and more. The negative economic and demographic trends coupled with internal pressures for greater political and individual freedoms are building up again. External pressures to isolate and counter Russia politically and economically may eventually lead to another collapse. But, that may be some time in coming and in the interim we can expect tension, aggression, confrontation, and instability given the hard-headiness of VVP.
Of greatest interest to me are the similarities in economic and political vulnerabilities that modern Russia has with its past: lack of economic diversity, over-dependence on gas & oil for cash reserves, limited R&D focus in civil and military sectors, dependence on external technology, autocratic political process that stifles critical thinking, innovation and political / market reform, and more. The negative economic and demographic trends coupled with internal pressures for greater political and individual freedoms are building up again. External pressures to isolate and counter Russia politically and economically may eventually lead to another collapse. But, that may be some time in coming and in the interim we can expect tension, aggression, confrontation, and instability given the hard-headiness of VVP.
January 27, 2010
Scholarly review of the people and policies of the Reagan Administration to counter Soviet influence in the world. There were other reasons for the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union besides the policies of the Reagan Administration, however the focus of Reagan and his advisors toward blocking Soviet aims and expansion was relentless, and certainly was a huge contributor to the breakup of the USSR. Schweizer explains how Reagan provided additional military support to Afghanistan to help lead to unsustainable soviet troop losses in that ongoing war, how our increases in military spending forced the Soviets to divert money from other needed programs. Additionally, Reagan political policies and restrictions on advanced technology exports impacted the modernization of soviet military and business. These influences ultimately contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Left unsaid is that these same combined pressures, e.g., an already weakened domestic economy, increases in military spending, an unsustainable limited war in Afghanistan, Iraq, and now in the borders of Pakistan could lead to further pressure on our economy if our leaders fail to make the tough choices and take effective steps to resolve these problems.
November 11, 2014
A fascinating look at the application of a coherent national strategy to accomplish specific objectives.
February 7, 2015
The stories about the Pope are incredible. Love it!
November 21, 2024
Mostly statistics and incoherent in the way it is written so sometimes hard to follow. The chapters are set up in a weird way and overall he is quite biased. Readable though.
July 11, 2018
One Heck of a book!
This was a fantastic read. This is eye-opening stuff. I always sensed that the Reagan administration did this, but I never knew the actual plans that were put into place. This reads like a spy thriller. Great book.
This was a fantastic read. This is eye-opening stuff. I always sensed that the Reagan administration did this, but I never knew the actual plans that were put into place. This reads like a spy thriller. Great book.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews