Thomas Friedman In La La Land: Oil Prices Killed The Soviet Union
File this one under delusion liberal/progressives dopes. Friedman is arguing that, if Obama wins, he will be able to negotiate with Iran with a bat, because of the low price of oil, leading to
After all, it was the collapse of global oil prices in the early 1990s that brought down the Soviet Union. And Iran today is looking very Soviet to me.
As Vladimir Mau, president of Russia’s Academy of National Economy, pointed out to me, it was the long period of high oil prices followed by sharply lower oil prices that killed the Soviet Union. The spike in oil prices in the 1970s deluded the Kremlin into overextending subsidies at home and invading Afghanistan abroad — and then the collapse in prices in the ‘80s helped bring down that overextended empire.
Last time I ventured into Reality Land©, it was Reagan and his military build up, or threatened build up (think SDI, ie, Star Wars), that killed the Soviet Union, because they could not keep up monetarily, and it allowed States like Poland to have a peaceful revolt. Eh, you know the story. Only Liberals/Progressives refuse to acknowledge what The Gipper did. Heck, some of them credit Carter. Snicker.
Seriously, there is so much wrong with those 2 paragraphs that I do not have time to write it all up, and you do not want to read the 40 paragraphs I could write in response.
Update: Just to add a tiny bit of context, back in the late 70’s, the price of oil spiked to $40 a barrel, then, dropped to $10 a barrel in 1980. The Soviets were selling it, mostly to countries in there sphere of influence, as well as some other non-communist countries. They were also having quite a bit of trouble with their infrastructure in getting the oil out of the ground, for many reasons. The rest of their economy was pretty much garbage, too. So, yes, oil was a factor in their downfall in the late 80’s. They had little income, they had little quality output, they were having to buy massive amounts of grains, mostly from the United States, and their oil revenue was piss poor. Add their spending in Afghanistan.
That said (written, whatever 
), without the military build up by Reagan, real and threatened, the Soviets wouldn’t have been forced to drain their coffers, ignoring upgrades to not only their oil production, but, their entire infrastructure. You name it, they were hosed. The “arms race” of the 80’s, from small scale to new nukes, ships, SDI, etc, was not really military, but economic warfare.
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Posted by William Teach on October 29, 2008 4:00 pm
» Filed Under Delusional Dupes and DUmmies, Democrats, Elections, Foreign Policy, History, Iran, Liberal Media/Bias, National Security, News, Revisionism, Stupidity, Unhinged
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8 Responses to “Thomas Friedman In La La Land: Oil Prices Killed The Soviet Union”
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Syndicate Me
I guess I would like to know who exactly the Soviet Union USSR was selling the oil to during the 70’s and 80’s that it was fueling their economy. As far as I can tell they were not selling to non-communist countries. Thus price = meaningless.
It is fascinating to peer into their delusional thinking. It must take a tremendous amount of energy for them to live in their fantasy world.
Well, there is some partial truth to that. Reagan enlisted the Saudis, who were afraid of a major push into the Arabian peninsula after the invasion of Afghanistan. He got the Saudis to massively increase oil production, which caused the bottom to drop on oil prices. USSR couldn’t keep up because, being communist, their oil production was highly inefficient and only profitable when global oil prices were high.
It was that, coupled with the diversion of all their money to military spending that finally did the soviets in.
But Reagan *was* responsible for both.
I wish I were one tenth as smart as Thomas Friedman thinks he is.
Dude, put down the pipe.
That stuff makes ya supid as well as paranoid and you are THERE, dig.
!
Liberalism is a mental disease.
Not his fault.
This is the guy who won a Pulitzer?!Let’s go the Soviets for the TRUTH about wh their evil empire fell!It was CArter’s plan all along for the USSR to over extend themselves until the price of oil fell and we sat in gas lines.
Keep fighting! Start plastering your pro McCain/Palin statements in online newspapers in swing states especially. Go. Now. http://www.50states.com/news