Oil, Not Reagan, Ended Cold War
Article from: OGEL 3 (2004), in Economic and Commercial Context for Oil, Gas and Energy Law
Introduction
Since Reagan's death, we have been reminded of his achievements, such as strengthening the US's our armed forces and deregulating markets. Yet he had his failures too, such as the Iran-Contra affair. Nonetheless, it is important to give credit where credit is due. Many analysts look at President Ronald Reagan's record and say that he caused the end to the Cold War. However, the real cause of the fall of the Soviet Union was not military collapse but rather a domestic resource issue. Specifically, the decline in the nation's oil production caused the Soviet economy to ...