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Years later, close advisers of Gorbachev admitted that the realization that the USSR could never complete with star wars made them finally accept demand for internal reform. A leading Soviet economist, put it this way.

Had it not been for the Reagan defense buildup, if the United States had not demonstrated that it is willing not only to stand up for freedom but to devote considerable sums of money to defending it, we probably would not be sitting  here today having a free discussion between Russians and Americans.

But Reagan’s challenge to the Soviets was as much moral as it was economic, which is why the impact of his policies on the life of Soviet dissidents was no less dramatic.

Excerpted from ‘The case for Democracy’ by Natan Sharansky