Naturally the American imperialistic aggressor was better than the Soviet non-imperialistic non-aggressor that wasn’t supplying SAM’s and SAM crews etc to North Vietnam, because the Americans weren’t bombing Laos and other places the Americans weren’t bombing where there weren’t Soviet SAM crews etc.
If you think about it, it was really a war that didn’t happen as nobody from America or the USSR was actually anywhere where the war didn’t happen.
I’m offended by this.
What makes you think that Australia could ever run anything even a quarter as efficient as the KGB? Most of the time we’d be flat out running one of your tractor factories.
I do understand that logic mate:)
I do not understand - what personally you did fear in commi?
What they did a bad for you?Or what they want to did against you?
Naturally the American imperialistic aggressor was better than the Soviet non-imperialistic non-aggressor that wasn’t supplying SAM’s and SAM crews etc to North Vietnam, because the Americans weren’t bombing Laos and other places the Americans weren’t bombing where there weren’t Soviet SAM crews etc.
nah mate:)
You have confused the concequense of events.
Initially the Americans bombed the Vietnam and only after that the Soviets began to supplythem by the SAM’s.
So from this point the If the Americans has not started the first - this war would never heppend, right?
If you think about it, it was really a war that didn’t happen as nobody from America or the USSR was actually anywhere where the war didn’t happen.
Absolutly agree.
However it why only the soviets was bad?
I’m offended by this.
What makes you think that Australia could ever run anything even a quarter as efficient as the KGB? Most of the time we’d be flat out running one of your tractor factories.
Oh sorry my friend:)
I just thought that Australia is a great importaint state. Ans as any great state should be great in everythin- even in secret service;)
All fair points. But I think one of the problems here was that Soviet intelligence was as guilty of framing the collection and interpretation of intelligence information to meet a predetermined world view of in this case, much as US intelligence was guilty of the same thing on the eve of the second Gulf War, rather than the other way around. That is, they were selectively culling intelligence that met one set of expectations (of which they had nothing tangible or certain), then they were ignoring or dismissing indicators that showed that NATO was not going to attack and that there was absolutely no evidence (i.e. their spy at NATO HQ)…
If they were paranoid then they were no better than their counterpart. My point proven.
If they were not paranoid than they were not afraid of USSR. But then why the public in the USA was so paranoid about it?
I think you mean they were “no worse” that the US or NATO as far as paranoia, of which I would both agree and disagree…
What the USSR was guilty of doing was falling for the same aggressive, sabre-rattling rhetoric from the Reagan Admin. than they themselves had historically made. While it is true that there seems to have been a long running habit of certain Neoconservatives in the US gov’t like Donald Rumsfeld, to exaggerate Soviet military capabilities in order to justify new weapons systems and defense spending, there was no incidence of coming close to conducting a nuclear first strike with the total absence of any direct confrontation over some sort of an international incident…
Oh I agree that it played a part in what happened here. I just ask that we not go off onto another conspiracy tangent because that incident is very clearly a separate issue…
I would say that there were hundreds, if not thousands, of both sides probing each others air defenses and fighter response times. But I would add that a discussion as to whether the KAL007 was some sort of intentional conspiracy by the US to cause a shoot down in which they could blame on the, in Reagan’s words, “Evil Empire” is off topic.
In fact, we can discuss those incidents in a separate thread…
You see, this is one of the great positives that came out of the Able Archer incident. Even though we were on the brink, almost inexplicably, it shocked both governments into some sanity, and may have been one of the biggest single factors of the US and USSR reestablishing Détente…
Few people remember that Reagan was asked, while in Moscow to see Gorbachev, whether he still thought of the Soviets as the “evil empire,” and he said “no” while emphatically shaking his head…
