We just passed the 20th anniversary of the removal of the Berlin Wall. The fall of this wall represented much more then the elimination of bricks and mortar. More importantly it was the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Communist Empire. For us Baby Boomers raised during the height of the Cold War, this was a remarkable event. For the first time in our lives, the threat of a nuclear holocaust was substantially lowered.
There are those with a revisionist view of history that believe the Soviet Empire rotted from within and this alone brought down the Wall and its empire. While the Soviet Union was indeed rotten, the overly simplistic view that this by itself brought them down ignores the dynamic events that occurred during the 1970’s and 1980’s.
The 1970’s was the zenith of the Soviet Empire’s power. America had been embarrassed and weakened by the Vietnam debacle. This, along with the Watergate scandal, led to the election of the accommodative and liberal, Jimmy Carter, the worst president of modern time. These happenings emboldened the Soviets and led to their invasion of Afghanistan.
The failure of the Carter Administration to deal with the Soviets, as well as the Iranian hostage crises, lead to a call for change and the election of Ronald Reagan. Reagan had a different view of foreign policy, not only from Jimmy Carter, but also the historically accommodative State Department. Reagan spoke in plan language, calling evil regimes for what they were. i.e. the Soviet Union the “Evil Empire”. He met their challenges with strength and the Soviets learned that they could not match America’s technical capability or willingness to spend on defense.
Perhaps even more damaging to the Soviet Union’s survival was Reagan’s willingness to call them on the world stage for their immoral behavior. This culminated in his famous Berlin speech in June 1987 when he called on the Soviets to “Tear down the wall“. By challenging the Soviets on moral issues he showed the world how bankrupt their system was and hastened their collapse.
Contrast Reagan’s approach with the Obama Administration’s willingness to meet with evil without preconditions. Contrast Reagan’s approach with Obama’s unwillingness to call the Iranian regime on its human rights abuses and terrorist activities. Contrast this with the Obama Administration, and for that matter the Bush Administration, for their unwillingness to call Islam on human rights violations institutionalized through religion. How far we have regressed in just 20-years!
The moral bankruptcy of America’s current foreign policy seems strikingly similar to that of Europe during the 1930’s. Let’s see: Reagan is not worthy of the Noble Peace Price, but Obama is. Hmmmmm ……. Appeasement and accommodation didn’t work then and it will not work now.
Steve Markowitz
