Did the USA plan, orchestrate and/or have a hand in the breakup of the former soviet (USSR) ?
Not as such, but it did have a hand in accelerating the end of the communist system. The system had severe built-in deficiencies. The command economy meant that production and distribution decisions were in the hands of bureaucrats instead of customer feedback. Private entrepreneurs were prevented from going after commercial opportunities. This led to a very inefficient system, where shortages were common and quality poor. The one-party state restriction meant that there was a lack of accountability of government, and the state could become dictatorial and corrupt. With these issues, the USSR was failing to compete with the western world by the 1970s, yet was still trying to match its military spending as a superpower. By the 1980s things were getting much worse. The invasion of Afghanistan sucked them into a black hole. This ended the detente of the ’70s, and US President Reagan increased funding to oppose the Soviets. The USA supplied weaponry to the Afghan resistance, making this si
