Excellent article on Afghanistan

[Snipey]

Then you improve to road network. If the Red Army could deliver supplies to Leningrad, you can be damn sure they can deliver supplies to Kabul. You also coordinate with allies, improve overall strategy, use bombs and air force in intense battles, take the casualties, but gain the ground. You don't just sit there and do nothing, like Gorbachev did!

I do, but I think you're wrong. Keep in mind that in the USSR there was no unemployment, everyone had jobs, and most people had a roof over their head and food to eat, as well as quality healthcare. There was also no massive depression during the Cold War in the West. I think that if the USSR lasted to this day, it would have been interesting, to say the least, and I know that scenario would be better for Russians, than the one that took place. It's about surviving, not about winning the Cold War. USSR couldn't have won the Cold War, but it could have given its citizens quality lives, which is much better than what Gorbachev's and Yeltsin's Russia did. The main reason that Putin is popular in Russia, is because under Putin the living standards of the average Russian, either doubled or tripled, depending on whose analysis you look at.