DBWI:New trade deal with the USSR

Today on the 5th of May 2009 the US president signed a new trade deal with the premier of the USSR, Nikolai Makarov, to promote a 'new era of peace and understanding', harking back to previous detente periods. With the Soviet economy doing quite well and liberalization programmes proving successful, some see this as a thawing of relations and a new era of detente. Some, however, accuse the president of 'collaborating with a totalitarian state' that is 'trying to pull the wool over our eyes'. What is your opinion?
 
Today on the 5th of May 2009 the US president signed a new trade deal with the premier of the USSR, Nikolai Makarov, to promote a 'new era of peace and understanding', harking back to previous detente periods. With the Soviet economy doing quite well and liberalization programmes proving successful, some see this as a thawing of relations and a new era of detente. Some, however, accuse the president of 'collaborating with a totalitarian state' that is 'trying to pull the wool over our eyes'. What is your opinion?

The Soviets are interested in making money nowadays, not world dominance (not that they ever really had actual _plans_ for that). It's not that they really have an ideology to export any more - they may not be as Capitalist as China is nowadays, but they're getting there - and they have enough problems with minorities as it is. I know, someone will bring up Iraq now, but you have to understand how desperate they were for higher oil revenues at the time - after all, it _was_ under Soviet pressure that Saddam gave up his nuclear arms ambitions (tit for tat, so to speak).

Bruce
 
I mean, neutralization of Poland, withdrawl of troops from Former Yugoslavia - what do the hawks want, for him to show up on TASS dressed in an uncle sam suit and toss eggs at a portrait of Lenin?

Bruce
 
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