John J. Mearsheimer

And most people don't talk about this in polite company, but we solved the German problem.

We cut the country into two parts.

They occupied the Soviets' one half.

We occupied the other half.

And although the Cold War was somewhat dangerous, it was altogether...

Pretty peaceful as these things go.

I mean, we did have the Cuban Missile Crisis and a handful of crises over Berlin, so I don't want to overstate the case.

But we never came close to having a serious war in the heart of Europe, and we solved the German problem.

But that's why the Soviets stayed.

But what eventually happens is two things.

And this leads to the end of the Cold War and the end of the Soviet Empire in Eastern Europe.

Number one, the Soviet economy begins to run aground.

It really starts in the mid-1960s and it accelerates in the early 1980s.

And of course, Gorbachev comes along and the rest is history.

But it's...

It's fundamental flaws in the Soviet economy that eventually brings the Soviet Union down.

But the second thing that happens, getting back to what we were talking about before, is that the Soviets understand that occupying Eastern Europe and Central Europe is incredibly expensive.

Yes.

Right.

And the people don't want us there.