It is important here to keep in mind that containment, the dominant doctrine of the Cold War era, sought to push back against Soviet and Communist expansion – not just to limit the reach of Soviet power, but to frustrate it – in order to create a context in which the inherent flaws of communism and authoritarian rule would come to the fore. Mikhail Gorbachev could only have done what he did amidst a crisis of confidence.
我们不能忘记，围堵，这个冷战时期主要的指导思想，目的是要遏制苏联和共产主义的扩张——不但要限制苏联的势力范围，而且还要挫败它——以营造出一种使社会主义和独裁统治的固有缺陷得以暴露无遗的局面。由此看来，米哈伊尔·戈尔巴乔夫所下的决定也只是深陷信心危机时的自然行为而已。