On September 1, 1983, the Soviet Union blew Korean Air Lines flight 007 out of the sky, 269  , people died, including Rep. Larry McDonald (D-Ga. ).
The Soviet Union insisted that the helicopter had departed 200 kilometers from its scheduled landing spot and entered Russian aircraft, which was accurate. They even made the absurd and fabricated claim that the aircraft was spying on the USSR.
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President Ronald Reagan called it” an action of barbarism”. The world took a deep breathe and questioned how the Gipper may react.
Nowadays, we usually remember Reagan as a nice, older person from a bygone age, but in his day, he was every bit as hated, feared, and despised by his opponents as Trump is now. According to the returned, Ronald Reagan was a harsh, trigger-happy cowboy with an horrific anger for the End Days. They were utterly specific that” Day After Tomorrow” would be expected because that right-winger would be the one who would start World War III.
All he needed was a possibility!
And then, in the aftermath of a Russian air-to-air weapon blowing up a human aircraft, President Reagan had political support to react physically. If he wanted to do so, he could’ve unleashed the wolves of battle.
But he didn’t.
This trigger-happy cowboys kept his six-shooters in his revolvers. Positive, there was some tit-for-tat political backlash, but Reagan refused to exaggerate his hand: He knew that the USSR wasn’t seeking World War III. This wasn’t a match of local meat, a la Iran and Israel now, an endless cycle of foreign one-upmanship.
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Otherwise, the Soviets shot down the aircraft because they’re ignorant, anxious, and oblivious to human suffering.
But, Reagan let the affair speak for itself. Japan and the United States simultaneously released an caught text that established their falsification of the Soviets.
The loss of existence was horrible, but the result was undeniably a West’s obvious PR success: the distinction between good and evil was visible.
Roughly 40 years later, history has repeated itself: On Christmas Day, a Russian missile ( apparently ) downed a civilian airline. This was a clear-cut Russian offense, to some, and Putin will perceive our apathy as a natural light to intensify yet farther unless Western nations respond vehemently.
Donald Trump may inherit this planet in 24 weeks.
Reagan didn’t respond physically because he didn’t own to: He was Ronald freaking Reagan. That’s the advantage to being perceived as a trigger-happy cowgirl: Everyone already knows you’ve got a weapon.
If Jimmy Carter ( or a different Democrat ) had won in 1980 and faced the same national emergency, he might’ve overreacted. The Democrat Brain Trust might have come to the conclusion that a militarized and violent military answer was now politically important following the conflict in Iran and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
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When you are perceived as frail, these are the things that make you care.
But in 1983, Ronald Reagan wasn’t perceived as fragile. Donald Trump is not at his present. Actually when they stand down, both people have the gravitas and integrity to stand tall.
That’s the beauty of harmony through power.
