Gorbachev is on Nightline right now...

[JFW]

pouring a little bit of cold water on some of the "Reagan-ended-the- cold-war" hype.

[Booster]

1. That's great...

I have in the past had more than one argument with someone who said Reagan ended the Cold War. I have always said it was Gorbachev. I would have liked to see Reagan when Krushev was in power....wait, on second thought, no I wouldn't. We would have been in a really ugly war.

[Old and In the Way]

2. I've always thought that Gorbachev was a truely great statesman.

He was the one with the hard work of finessing the Soviet hardliners into accepting the liberalization and eventual break up of the state.

Reagan was in the right place at the right time. Reagan's leadership style could have been disasterous if there had been a hardliner running the Politburo. Clearly, the SU could have followed our escalation or even decided to react to our military build-up in a pre-emptive manner, if someone other than Gorbachev had been in control. We owe a huge gratitude of thanks to him and Margaret Thatcher for convincing Reagan that Gorbachev could be trusted.