[speaker001:] well what's your views on it
[speaker002:] I personally feel like as long as the Soviet Union exists it's going to be a threat to the United States and
[speaker001:] sure an anybody that's got that much military might is going to be a threat
[speaker002:] that's right and I I think that we've made a lot of strides in the last several years with them but I don't feel like that we can ever turn our back on them and
[speaker001:] not yet
[speaker002:] no I I just think that
[speaker001:] course we're in a good position they're they're quite dependent on us right now
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] but that doesn't necessarily mean anything but I don't know the I
[speaker002:] and I I have to wonder sometimes how much of their dependence is um you know if it's it's sort of a false dependence just to while they're building their own uh way of doing things that they're making us think that they depend that much on us so that we don't watch them more closely you know I'm very suspicious of them
[speaker001:] well I don't know I yeah I mean first and foremost I mean everybody loves Gorby but you know that the one thing they have to keep in mind he's a communist and communists have their own little ideology about the way things are going to be
[speaker002:] yeah that's right
[speaker001:] I think I think they're in pretty bad shape right now I I think their I think their reliance on us is is probably real course that's not to say that once we get them on their feet again things won't go back the way they were
[speaker002:] that's right
[speaker001:] so I don't know
[speaker002:] and I don't know you know they they want to know what it would take to convince us that they aren't a threat and I don't know that there's anything that can be done to convince us of that because you know we just see how if if you let your guard down in any situation how you know how quickly that Persian Gulf situation arose
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] um I don't I I don't think that that we can ever be convinced as a country that that they're going to change or you know not be a threat
[speaker001:] well only unless they change their form of government
[speaker002:] yeah and even even the strides that were made toward that though uh you know Gorbachev seems to have he seems to have lost his steam in in that direction and you know he seems to be repressing his own people again and I don't think that I think that a lot of the the forward progress that was made came to a halt you know in the middle of that Persian Grulf Gulf crisis
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh well it's going to be interesting in the next few years to see what happens because there's quite a strong democratic um um  group over there
[speaker002:] yeah see so many of them have gotten a taste of of democracy and  they're kind of in between right now they're they're not uh they're not getting the benefits of being a democratic place but they they know what they are and uh the country tells them that you know this is what it's like to be a democracy and they're still hurting
[speaker001:] um-hum uh-huh
[speaker002:] so you know they're getting I guess the worst of all worlds right now
[speaker001:] um yeah well there was a interesting cartoon in the editorial the other day it was a there was a picture of a shop keeper with this really mean look on his face and empty shelves in back of him and a little rat and a couple of spider webs and
[speaker002:] uh
[speaker001:] a couple of Russians walk in and look at it and say well we have the worst of both worlds communism and capitalism
[speaker002:] that's true
[speaker001:] but you know I I I think that I think or at least I hope that they understood that's what was going to happen now you can't go from a a communist economy to a democratic one and expect things to be great overnight
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] it's just like Poland
[speaker002:] and East Germany
[speaker001:] and East Germany I mean the the only saving grace for East Germany is that West Germany had lots of money
[speaker002:] yeah that's right
[speaker001:] and uh they're bailing them out on everything but even even now the West Germans are grumbling
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] you know which I I would hope they had thought about that while they were busily engaged in tearing down the wall I mean they talk about unification unification and now they're unified and now all they can do is gripe
[speaker002:] right uh-huh
[speaker001:] but oh well I don't know
[speaker002:] it's one of those things that all looks good on paper but putting it into reality is a whole different ball game
[speaker001:] yeah yeah I know we we've shoveled so much aid to Poland and I don't know of course you don't hear hear the bad things out of there like you used to but it doesn't mean they're not going on it just means the press decided to cover something else
[speaker002:] that's true that's right yeah
[speaker001:] of course you know you always wonder about the information you're getting anyway
[speaker002:] that's right I you know that's another thing the news media in the in the Soviet Union I wouldn't trust them either you know I wouldn't trust them to send to send a story about the United States to their people correctly
[speaker001:] huh-uh huh-uh huh-uh
[speaker002:] and uh
[speaker001:] there has been a lot more openness
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] um we can only hope that that continues it's a precursor of things to come
[speaker002:] I think our next biggest threat is the Japanese Japanese
[speaker001:] yeah yeah first economic battle we've ever been involved in
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] yeah it's like our car industry and it would have it would it would have gone under a long time ago if it hadn't have been for the Japanese helping us out
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and I guess they they feel a bit ashamed they've done so well
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] well here's the poor United States they helped us get on our feet so let's help them it's amazing we got a lot of problems here too I do mean
[speaker002:] yeah and and and I have a real problem with the government you know giving away things to the the other countries that have as as much ability to to do harm to us as anyone
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and you know like giving them plans plans for the some of the uh top secret aircraft that we have and things like that I mean that's ridiculous that is only asking for trouble
[speaker001:] yeah well it's like it's like Saddam you know we're going to build them up and then have to go in there and take care of them
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] so
[speaker002:] that's exactly right
[speaker001:] well gosh I can't think of anything else
[speaker002:] nope me either
[speaker001:] well I guess that'll about do it
[speaker002:] okay same here have a good weekend bye-bye
[speaker001:] good talking to you you too bye-bye