When goods and services flow across borders, armies don't. When goods and services don't flow across borders, armies soon will. Glastnost had a lot more to do with the North Sea and Prudhoe Bay coming online and with the jump in Saudi production than with any aging B-movie star's saber rattling.

olepossum, you mean you don't think Reagan was the prince of peace promised in the Bible?

If anyone should be credited with causing the Russian downfall by overproduction, it should be the Saud family. My personal theory, it was MTV. Once the Russians could get half-naked girls wearing nice shoes, Communism was finished. Russian women want nice shoes too!