Bessmertnykh did not say that Reagan’s arms buildup was “an accelerator.” He said that SDI led Gorbachev to realize that perestroika was necessary if the USSR was going to compete with the US military; soon enough, Gorbachev saw that perestroika could not succeed without glasnost; and once there was glasnost, people all over Eastern Europe saw that they hated communism. The result was the abolition of the USSR. Again, don’t take my word for it: take Bessmertnykh’s.
