NBC Notes 25th Anniversary of Reagan's 'Tear Down This Wall' Speech
Uniquely among the broadcast network evening newscasts, on Tuesday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams noted that today is the 25th anniversary of President Reagan calling on Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev to demolish the Berlin Wall, as Reagan stood in Berlin on June 12, 1987, and delivered his famous "Tear down this wall" speech. Williams read the brief item:
Hard to believe it's been 25 years, but it was one of the signature moments of the Reagan presidency in the waning months of the Cold War with the old Eastern Block. June 12, 1987, when Ronald Reagan stood in Berlin and said, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." It eventually did come down just over two years later.
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The last great president...
Submitted by MrSnuggles on Tue, 06/12/2012 - 10:52pm.
The last great president...
Couldn't agree more........!
Submitted by draygeaux on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 6:07am.
Couldn't agree more........!
But that idiot had to speak
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Tue, 06/12/2012 - 11:01pm.
instead of letting us hear Reagan. Anyone want to hear that moron?
Exactly my reaction
Submitted by CO2Maker on Thu, 06/14/2012 - 10:55am.
It looked like Williams was doing a very bad Milli Vanilli spoof.
➚ Mr. Putin!
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Tue, 06/12/2012 - 11:19pm.
Mr. Putin, pretty please with sugar on top, don't send those assault helicopters to Syria. Remember? We did a pinky-swear to reset our relationship? We even let you join our club, NATO?
Your devoted lacky,
President Obama
williams
Submitted by grammajane on Tue, 06/12/2012 - 11:26pm.
is so arrogant, it is nauseating.
Anyone else have the feeling
Submitted by BigDaddy08 on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 1:06am.
Anyone else have the feeling that Obama is still thinking Russia is our ally?
Hey, Mr Big Giant Head Williams,,
Submitted by NJRightWinger12 on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 2:01am.
Tear down that fourth wall, by using your Big Giant Head, you idiot! We want to hear Ronaldus Magmus speak, NOT you!
Was the "wall" coming down anyway?
Submitted by lrgon on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 9:59am.
New Lies for Old.
In 1984,a high ranking soviet KGB officer defected to the west and spilled the beans as to what the soviets were planning in their next stage of their grand strategy of deception. Anatoliy Mikhaylovich Golitsyn wrote a book New Lies For Old in which he spelled out the deception. Golitsyn predicted the collapse of the communist bloc orchestrated from soviet high command. He warned about a long-term strategy of lies/deception designed to lull the West into a false sense of security. Golitsyn wrote in New Lies For Old: http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&rh=n%3A283155&page=1#/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_1...
"The 'liberalization' in the Soviet Union would be spectacular and impressive. Formal pronouncements might be made about a reduction in the communist party's role; its monopoly would be apparently curtailed."
"If [liberalization] should be extended to East Germany, demolition of the Berlin Wall might even be contemplated." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatoliy_Golitsyn
Golitzyn said that in 1984. Reagan's speech at the Brandenburg gate was in 1987.
Golitsyn in 1984 was saying: "The European Parliament might become an all-European socialist parliament with representation from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. 'Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals' would turn out to be a neutral, socialist Europe."
Former "soviet bloc" nations are now members of the European Union.
"Was it coming down anyways?"
Submitted by CobraMan on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 1:03pm.
"Was the wall coming down anyways?"
Probably not, for if it were I wouldn't have been stationed in West Germany in 1987 as a part of NATO forces, witnessing the Soviets partake in the largest military buildup along their western boarder since WWII. I honestly believe that the Soviets were planing an invasion of West Germany. Reagan though so too, which is why he sent people like myself there to make sure that wouldn't happen.
By the way, I was stationed in Mintz, which is just outside of the Fulda Gap, the "channel" where an invasion would have occurred. Had the Soviets decided to roll into West Germany, they would have rolled straight into us. That would have been a SERIOUS mistake on their part, one they would not have survived. Thanks to Reagan and his commitment to protect the German people, our allies, we were prepared. You may not believe that, but you weren't there. I was. I walked the streets. I toured the boarder. I lived less than a mile away for the Rhine River. I had German friends, even a German girlfriend. I trained for battle. I helped move in military equipment. I took part in REFOGER, the Return Of Forces to Germany and Europe exercises. I took part in alerts, in company and division level field exercises. I stood guard, ready to defend the German people, defend their freedom, ready to surrender my own life in the process. I know what was happening, for I was a part of it. What were you doing during this time?
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
He lived by the Rhine, he had a German girl friend
Submitted by lrgon on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 11:28pm.
How many frauleins you dated is irrelevant to the points made by Golitisyn concerning the planned "demolition" of the Berlin Wall by those sneaky soviets.
Anatoliy Golitsyn, 3 years before the Berlin Wall came tumbling down, wrote:
The soviets had in place
"... a long-term deception strategy designed to lull the West into a false sense of security."
Golitsyn said that this strategy would include a phony "liberalization" and that "communist liberalization would be extended to East Germany ...the demolition of the Berlin Wall might even be contemplated."
It's intertesting that Mikail Gorbachev stated that the European Union was a great development. He favored it and called the EU the "new soviet."
KGB defector Golitisyn wrote: "The European Parliament might become an all-European socialist parliament with representation from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. From Europe to the Urals ...would turn out to be a neutral, socialist Europe."
Had Reagan pushed hard to develop the Strategic Defense Initiative, an anti-Russian ICBM shield dubbed "star wars," the communist's goose would have been cooked! The masters of deceit succeeded in giving Reagan's space shield bad press. The "liberal" news media essentially killed SDI. Reagan never pursued its development as vigorously as many conservatives in congress felt he should have and would have overcome the media's negative campaign against the space shield.
How many pro-communists were there pre-cold war and post "cold war" operating as legitimate newsmen working for US newspapers and TV networks? Did your frauleins clue you in on that one?
Did any of those lonely walks by Check point Charley give you a clue as to why US soldiers have been deployed to the Rhineland when Hitler's Nazi's were crushed by the US army?
Have you ever wondered why US citizens have to foot the German people's military budget?
Why are US servicemen there when former "soviet bloc" nations are joining the EU.
There was no need for the soviets to engage us in a shooting war when bankrupting our nation suited their purpose.
The xenophobic, hateful Irgon
Submitted by Unsane on Thu, 06/14/2012 - 8:11am.
Have you ever wondered why US citizens have to foot the German people's military budget? Actually, we don't. I realize you are a xenophobe and that you hate everything imaginable, especially your own country, but the Germans pay for their own military.
There was no need for the soviets to engage us in a shooting war when bankrupting our nation suited their purpose. And in that they failed. But then I am talking to a poster who would have very, very cheerfully handed over Europe to the Nazis, the Communists, whoever. That would have cost the United States a major trading partner, but Irgon doesn't care because Irgon hates everything he sees, especially EVIL foreigners.
And as for Pearl Harbor, Irgon would have responded by very cheerfully turning over Hawaii to the Japanese.
Irgon likewise believes freedom is there for the asking. Freedom, in Irgon's view, does NOT have to be fought for and earned.
Why are US servicemen there when former "soviet bloc" nations are joining the EU. Power projection. Irgon, power projection is - never mind. (Your idea of power projection is ordering the immediate execution of every American who holds a passport - we can't have Americans who have seen any portion of the Outside World, don't you know.)
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
From Adnenaur to Merkel
Submitted by lrgon on Thu, 06/14/2012 - 12:42pm.
West Germany was rebuilt after WWII with great alacrity under the leadership of Chancellor Konrad Adnenaur. Adnenaur was the only good post WWII leader the German people have had. One of the worst leaders was Willy "the red" Brandt. The current leader Angela Merkel is a socialist having joined the socialist college group Free German Youth http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_German_Youth
In addition to her university days cheerleading for socialism merkel is a big promoter of the EU having had a hand in the Treaty of Lisbon.
Germany's economy is tied to the EU and as observed by a former USSR communist Party General secretary, Mikail Gorbachev the European Union is the new soviet.
Germany had a good start under Konrad Adnenaur but German citizens blew it when they began to place marxists chancellors like Brandt into positions of power.
When people have economic liberty they will have prosperity,or the best opportunity of obtaining it. But today that system is not popular in Germany or most of the rest of Europe despite the sorry experience of two forms of socialism — National Socialism (Nazism) and Bolshevism — in modern German history.
American troops remain in Germany (around 53,000) 67 years after the fall of Nazi Germany. Meanwhile, Europe, including Germany, is having to deal with a great flow of migrations from nonchristian nations. Sharia is winding itself into family law in nations like Germany and Austria, and it seems inevitable that the growing Islamic population of Turkish origin will begin to assert political power. The Germans have fallen for this population bomb theory and aren't reproducing as fast as Muslims, therefore, expect a decline in the native populations of these European nations.
Once the Muslims overtake Germany will you still insist on holding on to this erroneous theory of yours that stationing US red blooded Americans in faraway lands is good for America?
President Reagan exposed the Marxist flaws of a collectivist system that resorted to barbed wire, police dogs, and machine-gun towers to prevent people from leaving the east German sector. The wall came down but the marxist government officials remained behind desks.
Trust in limited government and individual liberty blended with serious faith in the God of the Christian and Jewish bibles is what they needed and instead got what Gorbachev called "my European soviet."
The old wall and iron curtain are gone, but a socialist “new world order” is on the rise.
Irgon: sucking at history, politics, research
Submitted by Unsane on Thu, 06/14/2012 - 5:51pm.
Irgon, you continue to amaze me at how much you suck at history.
So Angela Merkel belonged to the "Free German Youth". And because you suck at research, you cite Wikipedia. Angela Merkel was originally on the Eastern side of the Iron Curtain. Meaning she was in a Communist state, meaning that she had to do things in order to advance. She hasn't joined the PDS (now the Left Party, if I remember my German parties correctly), so I think she did what she had to do without swallowing Communism whole. Her term as Bundeskanzler indicates to me that she is very much supportive of freedom and representative democracy.
Yeah, we have tropps in Germany, due to the concept of "power projection". But I don't expect you to grasp that: hell, YOU HATE EVERY SINGLE THING YOU SEE, but you especially hate the United States and its military. In your view we need to end the military because you see, according to you, freedom exists for the asking. It NEVER needs to be fought for or defended. The military is to blame for EVERYTHING in your twisted world view. You, in short, Irgon, are the most hateful, bigoted, angry ingrate I have seen post on here.
I really don't know why you remotely care about the EU, Germany, Muslim immigration in Europe, or anything else that happens there, because of your hatred and xenophobia.
You whine that the "Marxist government officials remained behind their desks". Oh, i am sure that some were left behind as the Iron Curtain fell; in fact, I know they did. I know that former Communists have at times assumed power in former Eastern bloc countries. But I can say that for many other parts of the world. De-nazification wasn't 100%. Did you know Adenauer was the mayor of Cologne under the Nazis? Yet he was Bundeskanzler for years. And so much for Brandt being a Marxist: why did he not hand over West Berlin to the Communists when he was mayor there? And why did he resign in extreme embarrassment over the spy scandal that took him down if in fact he was the Marxist you so claim he was? Was/is the Social Democratic Party of Germany Marxist?
You don't even know American history, Irgon, and yet you want to pass yourself off as an authority on German politics?
And a Socialist "New World Order" is on the rise, huh? You fail to see what is going on in the world and you fail miserably. Socialism is what is KILLING Europe right now. Socialism is dead there; they just don't know it yet. Watch the next big Euro crisis center on France after those idiots elected a Socialist president. It won't be pretty, it will be very painful, but the Europeans are about to get a very nasty lesson in what Socialism results in.
And no doubt the ONLY "Serious faith in God" YOU want is what YOU believe. Given your extreme bigotry on this site, I would not be surprised in the least if your bigotry extended to religion.
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
the big one
Submitted by ZuccoZoid on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 5:21am.
Here is the full speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MDFX-dNtsM
Reagan's impact~
Submitted by GG_NB on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 10:52am.
What Reagan did for the German people was support them. He had to be brave and have a real conviction of the heart to speak those simple but direct words to Gorbachev (many were against him doing so, but he did what he felt was right).
Nobody should underestimate Reagan's courage or the impact of what he said, in giving momentum to moving the German people a step forward in The Wall eventually coming down. The German people had Reagan on their side. The psychological impact is what often brings about the most dramatic changes in history.
For me, one of the great callings that every U.S. President should have is to be on the side of the people of the world who want freedom and justice for their countries. That does not, IMO, always mean military intervention. But the words spoken by a U.S. President meant something back then...and I pray they will again. It DOES take courage to speak up against injustice and support people throughout the world who need to hear a world leader who is not afraid to stand up and say what is right.
Let that be the U.S. again...but for that to happen, there must be moral clarity in the President.
I would put the most stock in what the German people had to say about what Reagan did for them:
http://www.hoover.org/news/daily-report/119646
"If not us, who? If not now, when?"
~Ronald Reagan
The tumbling walls Jericho was an Israelite induced event
Submitted by lrgon on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 10:26am.
They had the Ark of the Covenant, ram horns and God on their side. The walls came tumbling down in one week just as Jehovah told them they would.
In the case of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the Secretary General of the USSR was simply carrying forward a plan to "tear down the wall" that had been in the works for years. It was a stratagem of deception that the torn down wall would symbolize a new USSR. To make the strategem work a grand illusion would be created, with the help of US leftist media of course, that the USSR had disintegrated and was no more!
Conservatives would believe that RR had indeed performed a miracle at the Berlin Wall. The leftwingers would join in on the chorus of "let's give the former communists US aid! They've changed and hope for peace is in the air. We don't need the God of the Israelites to tear walls down, we can do it with lies!" http://www.amazon.com/New-Lies-Old-Anatoliy-Golitsyn/dp/0945001134
You don't have a clue
Submitted by CobraMan on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 1:33pm.
You don't have a clue as to what was happening. When Reagan made that speech, the Soviets were attempting to expand that "wall" across all of Europe. Reagan, with the willing assistance of tens of thousands of America and German solders, along with French, British, Italian, Australian, Canadian, New Zealand, and every other member of NATO at that time, tore down that wall. Like it or not, Reagan SAVED Europe. Remind me again what happened to the Soviets? Oh, that's right, they don't exist any more!
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
The "clue" is right under your nose - NATO
Submitted by lrgon on Fri, 06/15/2012 - 12:20pm.
The UN subsidiary that you praise is the problem that Republican Senators like Robert Taft saw quite clearly. He was referred to as "Mr. Republican" due to his staunch adherence to constitutional principles. His principles put America First. The Democrats put the UN first and they passed bills so that US taxpayers would build up UN subsidiaries like NATO that would eventually threaten our nation's sovereignty.
The "America first" concept as articulated by men like Taft viewed US forces as totally part of the nation's sovereignty. The weren't mercenaries to be used by NATO bureaucrats to enforce socialist goals.
As the news cast shows NATO troops have been "training" as part of the international Special Operations Forces headquartered in Belgium. Part of the SOF contingency are soldiers from Jordan and Brazil. Brazil has since Lula de Silva was president, moved into the communist orbit and Jordan is a country that coddles terrorists! These are the troops training in Tampa,Florida to protect us?
The SOF theatrics in Tampa may impress clueless dummies in the USA but UN and NATO bureaucrats have other goals in mind not talked about in this news clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foqEFUWm0B8&list=UUiqRq2mT_bBPMRhHap684Ig...
Here is another "clue": To be independent of other nations and international organizations assures that US troops will ONLY fight under US flags and US commanders. Those US commanders will only take orders from US civilians elected by via our republican model of government - in other words our Constitution not a UN charter!
While you cluelessly pay homage to NATO you are placing this organization above the US Constitution. US soldiers don't sign up to uphold a UN agency's charter but the US Constitution.
Just so that you won't be so "clueless" the UN's FIRST acting secretary General was a soviet spy named Alger Hiss. Hiss played a role in shaping the UN charter.
A Trojan Horse called the UN came into the USA when the US senate approved the UN treaty and the Pendergast combine politician signed the bill.
Irgon, you belive every conspiricy theory you read or see on
Submitted by bassndude on Fri, 06/15/2012 - 12:23pm.
youtube. NATO is a product of post WWW II. UN has been around much longer than that. The USSR that was so eager to cede territory to NATO? Which USSR was that? Russia could no longer afford to suppress those countries they had under their boot for decades. There were numerous countries that Russia ceded besides Berlin.
The Soviets were broke, their Army was under armed and their battle equipment was badly dated. They were at a point of cease and regroup and come back later. Which if you pay attention, you see that resurgence beginning today.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal/troll!!
Oh my gosh...
Submitted by GG_NB on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 10:56am.
You people are nice to me. In my defense, I was up most of the night with a son with the stomach virus, but nobody clobbered me for writing RUSSIAN instead of GERMAN, over and over in my post.
Fixed it before someone really laughed at me -- thanks. :)
"If not us, who? If not now, when?"
~Ronald Reagan
I nevr would have thought it possible.
Submitted by CobraMan on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 11:52am.
I never would have though it possible that the East/West German border fence, with it's manned, armed watch towers, it's minefield, it's "high speed security road," all on the East German side and all placed just to keep their own citizens from leaving, would have disappeared 4 years after I stood just inches from it's western side, taking pictures of what looked to be like abandoned villages with empty streets less than a mile away on the east side of the boarder.
There was no movement in those villages, no sounds, no laughter, no children playing. It was strangely silent, disturbing vacant. It looked like the people had just disappeared, taken away to parts unknown, leaving behind the only empty husks of what use to be their homes as a reminded that people once lived there. The effect was chilling. It was though I had stepped into the Twilight Zone.
By the way, I even took pictures of the East German solders taking pictures of me. They thought I was a huge threat. I thought they were a huge embarrassment to their own society.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
And that dismal grey
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 11:57am.
Leaving West Berlin to East Berlin was like entering a Black and White movie.
I was never in Berlin
Submitted by CobraMan on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 12:14pm.
I was never in Berlin. That would have required special permission by the State department.
All the buildings I saw were the "standard" brown and grey brick and mortar design, with the iconoclastic red clay shingles on the roof. It looks rather beautiful, but so alarming vacant. It contrasted completely with the West German side. All of the West German villages, made from the same brick and mortar, the same clay roofs, just a few hundred yards behind me, were FULL of people, happily bustling along in their daily lives. I could her them, see them, walking, talking, laughing, playing. But nothing like that was going on over the boarder in East Germany. The contrast was chilling. I felt so sorry for the East German people. It was at that point that I knew what oppression looks like. It looks like death!
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
Cool~
Submitted by GG_NB on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 12:07pm.
So true. I saw both the East and West sides afterward -- and have a piece of The Wall! :)
"If not us, who? If not now, when?"
~Ronald Reagan
Berlin
Submitted by Unsane on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 12:15pm.
I figured that out even at the age of nine, when I went through Checkpoints Alpha, Bravo, AND Charlie.
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
I take issue with Mr. Williams statement
Submitted by NYCMiddle on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 1:43pm.
"in the waning months of the Cold War".
To me this implies the Cold War had been decided and it was only a matter of time before it was over.
It was not viewed that the end of the Cold War was a forgone conclusion at that moment in history and it was not clear that it would end favorably for the West.
The implication that the Cold War was on its way out the door diminishes the importance of President Reagan's message that the subjugated people of Eastern Europe and the USSR did not have to remain subjugated and that their governments were illegitimate.
YES...
Submitted by GG_NB on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 1:53pm.
And thank you!
"If not us, who? If not now, when?"
~Ronald Reagan
The future of Obamacare?
Submitted by CobraMan on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 1:51pm.
I just received a notice from my doctor that I have an appointment for a colonoscopy next month to "check for polyps," which is rather ironic as my colon was removed over 4 years ago. Is this the future of Obamacare?
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.