The Truth about the Collapse of the Soviet Union

“…the epical economic failure of an ossified state socialism”

Welcome to the USSA. — jtl, 419

The idea that the Reagan defense buildup somehow spent the Soviet Union into
collapse is a legend of remarkable untruth. The preexisting nuclear balance of
terror never really changed during the 1980’s, and the United States spent no
serious money threatening the evil empire. The Soviet leadership did end up
feeling beleaguered and imperiled, but it was due to the epical economic failure
of an ossified state socialism, not the new U.S. armada of conventional ships,
tanks, and planes. Indeed, the original notion that the Soviet Union [could
develop] nuclear war winning capability was never plausible. – David Stockman, Director of the Office of Management and Budget (1981–1985)

This is a fascinating lecture about the collapse of the Soviet Union by Robert
Wenzel at the Austrian Economics Research Conference (March 21, 2013).

Related articles

• Martyred in the USSR – Militant Atheism in the former Soviet Union (thesignofthecross.blogspot.com)
• Stranger Than Fiction: The Soviet Union Tried to Create an Army of Hybrid Ape-Men (warhistoryonline.com)
• Why Stalin Remains Popular in Parts of Former Soviet Union (carnegieendowment.org)
• Chakravarti Rajagopalachari and Soviet nuclear weapons (indrus.in)
• Mussolini USA (lewrockwell.com)
• Gordievsky: Russia has as many spies in Britain now as the USSR ever did (guardian.co.uk)