I sometimes think we were just fooled into thinking we “won”. Just look at Putin, and his Communist party buddies talking about reinstating the Soviet Union... It’s as if they gave a little freedom, knowing they had to, restructured their country, changed the names of all the players (KGB=Mafia, Communist Party Bigwigs=Corporate Bigwigs, etc...), but never really went anywhere...
Appearances can be deceiving.
I do not wish to take ANYTHING away from Reagan, Thatcher, et al... They undoubtedly weakened them, and forced them to give back a little, but it reminds me of the soldiers who retreat in order to live to fight another day. It’s my belief that they simply went “underground” and never really went away...
No—the Soviet Union really lost. I can’t imagine (and don’t buy) that the demise of the Soviet Union was an elaborate sort of ruse. There is no way the leaders of the old Soviet Union would have given up their empire voluntarily.
As for a resurgent Soviet Union, I think that is so much wishful thinking on the part of some in the Kremlin. Russia has some oil wealth now, but she still has huge problems. The #1 problem is demographics — the Russian population is shrinking fast. Until that turns around, look for Russia to make more noise than actual trouble.