Was Obama’s Description of Reagan an ‘Extraordinary Historical Fallacy?’

(U.K. Telegraph) - His speech was an interesting mix of pieties and rather pointed omissions : defending the US actions in Afghanistan and the first Gulf War but not the invasion of Iraq under George W Bush. It contained one quite extraordinary historical fallacy. Ronald Reagan was praised for his “efforts on arms control [which] not only improved relations with the Soviet Union, but empowered dissidents throughout Eastern Europe.” In fact, it was Ronald Reagan’s escalation of the arms race (through the much derided “star wars” programme) that bankrupted the Soviet Union, brought about the downfall of communism, and truly liberated the peoples of Eastern Europe. But that message would not presumably have appealed much to the Nobel grandees in Oslo.