On: The international student bait-and-switch

[hedora]

The cold war ended in the 80’s.

[refurb → hedora]

Indeed. 1989.

The major ramp up of military power came with Reagan's presidency.

[Gibbon1 → hedora]

Yeah after 1980 or so the 'cold war' was just about siphoning taxpayer money to the military industrial complex.

[refurb → Gibbon1]

I'd love to hear how you arrived at that conclusion (that somehow military spending before 1980 wasn't the same as post-1980).

[Gibbon1 → refurb]

Easy because I grew up in the Valley during the 1960's and 70's. If you believed the muttering of military and aerospace engineers and the occasional ex-soviet engineer, or the girl material science engineer I knew that spent a year studying in the Soviet Union. Well you knew the war was over and the Soviets lost. Or you could believe the usual propaganda.

I am amazed how many people still choose to believe the propaganda.

[refurb → Gibbon1]

Certainly no lack of strong opinions from engineers.

[Gibbon1 → refurb]

Go look at the MiG-25 which the US got their hands on in 1977 and then come back and say the Soviets hadn't lost the cold war.