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Major Garrett: In your speech this morning you said the Cold War reached its conclusion because of the actions of many nations that were made by many nations over many years. Mr. President are the Russian sensitivities so fragile that you can't say that the Cold War was won, the West won it and it was led by a combination of democratic and Republican presidents?
Barack Obama: There were a whole bunch of people around Eastern Europe who showed enormous courage (like the Iranians today?) and... uh, I think that it is very important in this part of the world to acknowledge the degree to which people struggled for their own freedom. We don't have to diminish other people in order to recognize our role in that history.
Let me get this straight. If we recognize our role in winning the Cold War, we diminish others?
This man is extremely UN-American. The lengths he will go to to prove to the world we are no better than any other nation is appalling.
We (Reagan) were instrumental in bringing an end to the Cold War. There is nothing to be ashamed in that.
Obama seems to carry around quite a bit of shame for America's past.
by LECH WALESA
Friday, June 11, 2004 12:01 A.M. EDT
GDANSK, Poland--When talking about Ronald Reagan, I have to be personal. We in Poland took him so personally. Why? Because we owe him our liberty. This can't be said often enough by people who lived under oppression for half a century, until communism fell in 1989.
Poles fought for their freedom for so many years that they hold in special esteem those who backed them in their struggle. Support was the test of friendship. President Reagan was such a friend. His policy of aiding democratic movements in Central and Eastern Europe in the dark days of the Cold War meant a lot to us. We knew he believed in a few simple principles such as human rights, democracy and civil society. He was someone who was convinced that the citizen is not for the state, but vice-versa, and that freedom is an innate right.
I often wondered why Ronald Reagan did this, taking the risks he did, in supporting us at Solidarity, as well as dissident movements in other countries behind the Iron Curtain, while pushing a defense buildup that pushed the Soviet economy over the brink. Let's remember that it was a time of recession in the U.S. and a time when the American public was more interested in their own domestic affairs. It took a leader with a vision to convince them that there are greater things worth fighting for. Did he seek any profit in such a policy? Though our freedom movements were in line with the foreign policy of the United States, I doubt it....
Mr. Walesa, winner of the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize, was president of Poland from 1990 to 1995.
I often wondered why Ronald Reagan did this, taking the risks he did, in supporting us at Solidarity, as well as dissident movements in other countries behind the Iron Curtain, while pushing a defense buildup that pushed the Soviet economy over the brink. Let's remember that it was a time of recession in the U.S. and a time when the American public was more interested in their own domestic affairs. It took a leader with a vision to convince them that there are greater things worth fighting for. Did he seek any profit in such a policy? Though our freedom movements were in line with the foreign policy of the United States, I doubt it.
You won't see obama take this kind of risk - he had his chance with the Iranian democracy activists. He turned his back on them and propped up the theocracy with his silence (tacit approval).
What I like about Obama is he doesn't hide his disdain for certain aspects of American heritage/pride/culture.
This polarizing quality will contribute to his undoing in the next election
During this period of ferment, Gorbachev’s great achievement, for which he will be credited by history, was to abstain from the use of force. Force had been the response of his predecessors to popular uprisings in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968. Moderator cut: copyright violation, first couple of sentences and link only, please
What I like about Obama is he doesn't hide his disdain for certain aspects of American heritage/pride/culture.
This is polarizing quality will contribute to his undoing in the next election
Not surprising for someone whose wife only became proud of America for the first time in her life when he was elected!
“We will never forget the statesmanship of Ronald Reagan and his efforts to bring the Soviet Empire to an end,” said Lithuanian Ambassador Vygaudas Usackas in an interview with The Washington Diplomat. “He helped open great opportunities for freedom and independence in Lithuania.”...
...“He’s remembered for his strong support of the Afghan resistance and fighting Soviets in Afghanistan,” said Ashraf Haidari, spokesman for the Afghan Embassy. “Of course, it was in the interest of U.S. security, but he basically helped Afghans liberate themselves. Now we continue our relationship with the United States based on the interest of fighting international terrorism.”...
...“I deem Ronald Reagan a great president, with whom the Soviet leadership was able to launch a very difficult but important dialogue,” Gorbachev said. “Reagan was a statesman who, despite all disagreements that existed between our countries at the time, displayed foresight and determination to meet our proposals halfway and change our relations for the better.”...
...Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos told Reuters that Reagan was “a great defender of Nicaragua’s return to democracy, and all Nicaraguans who believe in democracy recognize that legacy.”
The Embassy of Afghanistan, Washington, DC (http://www.embassyofafghanistan.org/inthenews/in40.html - broken link)
If I may, I want to give you one thought from my heart. Coming here and being with you and looking into your faces, I have to believe that the history of this troubled century will indeed be redeemed in the eyes of God and man, and that freedom will truly come to all, for what injustice can withstand your strength, and what can conquer your prayers?
And so, I say with Pushkin: ''It's time my friend, it's time. The heart begs for peace, the days fly past, it's time, it's time.''
bammers has tremendous difficulty acknowledging that America has every done anything good; he's far more worried about hurting pooty-poot's feelings.
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