All language subtitles for Cold War - S01E17 - Good Guys, Bad Guys (1967–1978) (480p x265 EDGE2020).eng

NARRATION:
As the colonial era drew to a close,

the Soviet Union believed
the world would turn

to socialism and preached that
message in its propaganda.

The United States
was concerned.

JOSEPH SISCO: The feeling
was very strong in Washington that

the Soviets were pursuing
a policy of expansion into

the Third World and our objective
was to prevent that.

Change the face of Egypt.

[ explosion ]

After the West had refused a
loan for a dam across the Nile,

the Soviet Union
took over.

The emerging nations used the
Cold War to get money and arms.

The Developing World
was being courted.

[speaking Russian ]

In Europe, the
borders were set in stone

and there was no
opportunity of expansion

there for either side -

it would have started
a new world war.

Where could the
hunting take place?

To be rather crude,

in those areas where
there was still prey.

That was the Third World

and each side tried
not to miss a chance.

[ Chanting ]

NARRATION:
In the Horn of Africa, the Soviet Union

backed two rival
and opposed regimes.

For America,

this was evidence of
Soviet expansion.

In Angola, thousands of
Cubans poured in to fight

South African troops
backed by the United States.

In Egypt'

the Soviet Union supplied arms
cheaply and on credit.

But President Nasser
wasn't easily influenced.

VADIM KIRPICHENKO:
[speaking Russian ]

One shouldn't think
of our relations with Nasser

as the relations of
master and servant.

Nasser always pursued
his own policy.

SAAD EL-SHAZLY: He was able to
understand the global strategy and now,

we can benefit from
the disagreement between the

Soviet Union and between
the United States and the West,

and make benefit of
this situation to

to raise our capabilities
militarily and economically.

NARRATION:
Nasser was the hero of the Arab world.

The Egyptians rallied for war.

[ Chanting ]

[ Crowds ]

Nasser and the Arab States
wanted to destroy Israel.

Moscow did not.

In 1948,

the Soviet Union had
supported the creation

of the state of
Israel on Arab lands.

By 1967, Israel's two
and half million Jews

were surrounded by
9O million hostile Arabs.

Israel felt insecure.

The threat from
Egypt became intense.

Israel had America's
political backing

but not her weapons.

Would Israel get America's
support for a surprise attack?

ROBERT McNamara: President Johnson
asked us to bring Israel's Foreign Minister

to the family
quarters of the White House and,

to speak rather
crudely about it,

the intent was to work him over,
to persuade him is perhaps

a more polite term,
to...

to avoid a
pre-emptive attack.

We thought we had
persuaded him.

[ Alarms ]

NARRATION:
Israel struck first.

In less than three hours,
90% of the Egyptian air force was

destroyed on the ground.

The Israelis seized
East Jerusalem-

Jews were able to pray at
the Wailing Wall again.

The Israelis pressed on.

Within six days,
the armies of Egypt, Syria

and Jordan were routed.

The Map of the Middle East
was transformed.

Israel had
trebled its size.

SIMCHA DINITZ: In the contest
between Russia and America within

the Cold War
in the Middle East,

Israel was an automatic
ally of the West.

Since the Six Day War,
this automatic ally

became a strategic asset.

NARRATION: America became
Israel's principal source of arms.

In the occupied territories,
a million Arabs fell under

Israeli rule.

It was a devastating
blow to Arab morale.

The Soviets
counted the cost.

[speaking Russian ]

Our weapons turned out
to be less effective

than we calculated.

We felt that it was
our duty to compensate,

to supply more arms,

and looking at
the wider context-

not to let the West win.

NARRATION:
September 1970:

grief in Egypt at the death of
President Gamal Abd Al Nasser.

The Developing World mourned
an outstanding leader.

So did Soviet
Prime Minister Kosygin.

The mourners were uneasy,
as were the Russians -

who could follow Nasser?

I shall do my best to follow
the policy of my late President,

my dearest friend
President Gamal.

But no-one will capitulate
here in this country.

I'm not ready to
capitulate or

to surrender one
inch or a bit of sand.

NARRATION: At the Moscow summit
of 1972 the super- powers agreed

on a code of conduct - détente.

Richard Nixon and Leonid
Brezhnev agreed not to seek

advantage at the
other's expense.

Better ties with America
outweighed Moscow's

commitments to the Arabs.
[ applause ]

This angered Sadat because
he felt that they were

giving priority to
détente with the Americans,

rather than helping
Egypt wage a war.

NARRATION: But détente
didn't stop American efforts

extend its influence in the
Middle East at Moscow's expense.

Our policy
in '72 was really

to try to minimize
and reduce the role -

I'll go further -

to keep the Soviets
out of the situation.

We established the
policy that

we would thwart any move,

backed by Soviet arms,

until some Arab leader
would become so frustrated

that he would turn
to us for diplomacy

and then we would try
to take as even-handed

a position as we were
capable of developing.

NARRATION:
In Egypt,

as in many other
developing nations,

the Soviet presence was huge.

In July 1972, Sadat
told the 15,000 advisers

and their families
to pack up and go.

It was a bold power play.

Sadafs move boosted
his popularity

and showed how little control
the Russians really had.

By October '72,

they decided to come
back to the support of Egypt.

And then Sadat make
benefit from that;

he says "Well I expelled
them to express power,

so that they would
give us what we need."

And strange enough,
we had arms deal after

October which was
one of the biggest arms

deals we've got with
the Soviet Union.

Sadat needed the arms.

He was planning to
end the uneasy peace.

He wanted to go to war -

he needed to go to war.

He felt he couldn't
do otherwise.

He considered that negotiations
were impossible without

some heating of
the whole process -

I mean, some shock therapy.

NARRATION:
Yom Kippur, Israel's most holy day.

Four thousand
Egyptian troops

and tanks surged
over the Suez Canal.

[speaking Egyptian ]

We'd been waiting for
this moment for five years,

the moment of
crossing the canal.

Our cries shook the ground
under the Israeli enemy.

The cry of
'God is Great'

made all our hair
stand up on end.

[ Chanting ]

NARRATION:
The Egyptian army sped ahead -

eager to retake
lost territory.

[chanting slogans]

American Jews demanded
immediate help for Israel.

Washington was in a dilemma.

Supplying its ally Israel risked
sacrificing Arab goodwill.

The State Department stalled.

There was an argument
as to whether

transport was available
and the Pentagon suggestion

was that private
transport be leased.

[speaking Israeli ]

We were very disappointed
and angry that supplies

were arriving so slowly
and only on EIAI planes.

The air convoy was
delayed again and again.

NARRATION:
The Egyptians kept up their attack.

ABBA EBAN: The United States
began to understand that we were

in a serious situation
when we suddenly changed

our tune from
this very blithe,

typically Israeli
self-confidence

to a report that,

as a result of what happened,
we were losing our life-blood.

[ Applause ]

NARRATION:
Sadat was triumphant;

he had regained land Egypt
lost in the Six Day War.

But the Russians
sensed disaster ahead.

They urged Sadat to
accept a ceasefire.

[speaking Russian ]

He would benefit
from a ceasefire -

otherwise, he'd be
forced to retreat.

But Sadat
wouldn't listen.

NARRATION: in
Washington, President Nixon

ended the delay over
the arms shipments.

Nixon said when the
option was brought

to him to send two
or three American planes,

said "Let's send a lot,

because we are going
to be criticized anyhow

and we will be criticized
for whatever we do,

for one plane or two planes,
as for 40 planes,

so let's do it
in an effective way."

NARRATION: The airlift
put the world's largest

power publicly
alongside Israel.

Now, it was Moscow's
allies that faced defeat.

Now the Israelis crossed
the Suez Canal into Egypt.

Soon, most of the Egyptian army
would be stranded in the Sinai.

ANATOLY DOBRYNIN:
[speaking Russian ]

Then Sadat got terrified.

He spoke on the phone
directly to Brezhnev.

I was there.

I remember him begging,
"Save us,

save us from
these Israeli tanks!"

[tank fire]

NARRATION: Cut off in the
desert, the Egyptians faced defeat.

Moscow called
for a ceasefire.

They realized that the
greater the military victory

on the part of
the Israelis,

the greater defeat
of Soviet supply

and a general weakening
of the Soviet position

in the entire region.

The Soviets and
Henry Kissinger

rapidly agreed proposals
for a cease-fire.

As Kissinger arrived
in Israel to break the

news to the Israelis,
the superpowers' ability

to restrain their allies
would be tested.

He had made commitments
which some of our leaders,

especially Golda Meir,
our Prime Minister,

believed to have
been rather rash.

And when he
landed he said,

"|'m going to be
chastised for this".

[ Applause ]

NARRATION:
Israel wasn't yet willing to end the war.

SIMCHA DINITZ:
Kissinger explained what happened,

and he vowed to continue
to help Israel in case

there is a renewal
of fighting.

With America's connivance,
Israel stepped up its onslaught.

The Soviets were outraged.

[speaking Russian ]

Brezhnev wrote a
letter to Nixon saying,

"How is it, when we've
agreed to act jointly,

that the Israelis are
continuing to advance.

It is undermining all our
attempts to make peace."

We suggested that
both the Americans

and the Soviets send
troops to the Middle East

to make Israel accept
the ceasefire.

But there was also
a sentence that said:

"If you won't do it,
we will have to consider

unilateral action."

The Soviet leaders had
every reason to look

at this as if there had
been some sort of a plot

and they reacted
very violently

and they sent us an extremely
tough note saying that they

wanted joint American-Soviet
intervention,

and if not,
they would act unilaterally.

NARRATION: Kissinger
deliberately upped the ante.

Determined to forestall
any Soviet intervention

in the Middle East,

he placed American nuclear
forces on heightened alert.

The basic purpose
was to generate

a lot of traffic
that the Soviet Union

would pick up before
they received our reply,

to know that this
was getting serious.

NARRATION: Moscow
didn't react to the alert.

They had already
abandoned the

idea of unilaterally
sending troops.

That was a
clearly a political

victory for the
United States,

a major political victory
that had repercussions

in the Cold War, far
beyond the Middle East.

NARRATION:
Under American pressure,

Israel allowed food and water to
reach the trapped Egyptian army.

Kissinger wanted Egypt
defeated but not destroyed.

With the Israelis just
100 kilometers from Cairo,

the Egyptians were

forced into their first ever
face to face talks with Israel.

Moscow was not involved.

JOSEPH SISCO:
The Egyptians saw that the vehicle

for getting on with
what subsequently became

the disengagement agreements
between Egypt and Israel,

that it was the United States
that carried all the cards.

NARRATION: Henry Kissinger
became the world's most famous

frequent flyer.

Shuttle diplomacy gave
him easy access to Sadat.

MOHAMED SID AHMED: The
relationship had fundamentally changed.

I mean, since the war, Sadat
believed that the main global

party he should woo
was the Americans.

NARRATION: Kissingefls travels
didn't bring about permanent peace.

They showed America was winning
the Cold War in the Middle East.

But there was
a price to pay.

[speaking Russian ]

These events unfavorably
affected the process of detente.

They strengthened the
mistrust of the Soviet Union

towards the United States.

NARRATION:
Africa, 1975.

The last colonial
empire was dying

and the people of Angola
reached for freedom

fresh hunting grounds for
the Cold War superpowers.

As Portuguese troops
pulled out of Angola,

three groups
jostled for power.

Americas fears
were aroused.

When Bill Colby
the CIA director

went to brief the
National Security Council

in the White House the
first time on this

his briefing was literally:

"Gentlemen, this is a map of
Africa, and here is Angola.

Now in Angola we
have 3 factions,

there's the MPLA
they're the bad guys.

The FNLA they're
the good guys

and there's UNITA and Jonas
Savimbi we don't know too well."

And that was to get the

National Security Council
involved in this thing.

NARRATION: The Popular
Movement for the Liberation of Angola -

the MPLA, the largest group -
was left wing.

Based in and
around the capital, Luanda,

its multi-ethnic
membership was led

by Agosflnho New
and Ludo Lara.

In the 1960s it had
received training from Cuba

and arms from Moscow.

The National Front for the
Liberation of Angola, the FNLA,

operated largely in the
north of the country.

Its leader, Holden Roberto -
a strident anti-communist

had close links with
neighboring Zaire,

which supplied him with
outdated American arms.

The National Union for the
Total Independence of Angola,

UNITA, led by Jonas Savimbi, was
based in the south of Angola.

A charismatic leader,
Savimbi

decided that American backing
was the key to power.

At Alvor in Portugal,

the three rival groups got
together.

They agreed on arrangements for
independence and elections.

JOHN STOCKWELL: The United
States scotched that absolutely.

Our solution was the CIA,

without approval from the
National Security Council,

delivered $300,000 to
Holden Roberto, and...

and ordered him to send his
people into Northern Angola.

INTERPRETER: We weren't
worried about receiving American aid.

We knew that the
Soviet Union was

supporting the MPLA
and we had no possibility

of countering that.

NARRATION: Secretly
channel led through Zaire,

American money helped pay for
Robertds war on the MPLA.

His side was always the
bloodiest, the most violent.

They went down and
promptly killed 15 MPLA

political activists,
and from that time on,

it was all cast,

you know the fate of
Angola was cast,

it was written in blood.

NARRATION: The Americans
were not sure that Robertds troops

could defeat the MPLA.

The Central Intelligence Agency
sent John Stock well

to investigate.

JOHN STOCKWELL:
Roberto said he had 30,000.

I had trouble counting 30.

Badly armed, disorganized,
kind of rabble kind of troops.

And he was a cocktail
party cowboy.

He'd spent his whole career
politicking in Kinshasa.

He knew nothing of military
operations or logistics

or organization.

NARRATION: Stock well went
south to UN|TA's headquarters.

Stock well met UN|TA's leader,
Jonas Savimbi.

JOHN STOCKWELL:
I found a different kind of a revolutionary.

He'd spent the entire
time inside Angola - 20 years.

He had led the guerrilla
fighting himself.

Whatever the
consequences,

whatever the results we
will continue to fight

because we don't want to
be slaves of Russia

in Angola,
in our own country.

NARRATION: America
was now backing two of

the three
independence movements.

Washington ruled
out intervention

in Angola with
American troops -

instead it turned,
secretly,

to South Africa.

The United States,
at the highest level,

requested assistance,

or rather requests
South Africa to go in

and assm UNWA.

We did maintain
a position of

of disapproval
of apartheid.

But on the other hand,

the South African Government
was extremely powerful.

[ Speaking Afrikaans ]

South Africa was isolated.

Although it was done secretly,
it was good for South Africa

to be co operating with
a big force like the USA,

even though
it was clandestine.

There were many people
in policy-making

positions in the
Department of State

who were essentially
willing to...

to have a funny,

ambiguous relationship
with South Africa.

The focus was on
Soviet penetration

and the possibility of the
Soviet Union using unstable

situations in Africa
to benefit itself,

to take root and
foment trouble.

[speaking Portuguese]

They were afraid
of the MPLA.

They called us communists.

The South Africans were
terrified of the MPLA.

They didn't have that terror
of the FNLA or UNITA;

they were allies.

They didn't like the MPLA
because the MPLA declared

itself against apartheid.

NARRATION:
In Luanda, the MPLA was staging parades.

In the countryside it
was losing control.

[speaking Portuguese]

We were alone,
poorly equipped,

poorly trained,
poorly armed.

We requested help from
the Cubans to help

us resist that aggression.

NARRATION: Keen to show
leadership in the Developing World,

Cuba sent 400 military
instructors to Luanda.

Moscow hadn't
been consulted.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

The Soviets knew
absolutely nothing about it.

We took the decision
because of our long

standing relations over
many years with Neto,

and with the independence
movement in Angola.

We were very unhappy-

I mean, obviously we...

we had no desire to see
Fidel Castro extend his...

his influence in
the African continent.

Our government in Washington
perceived Fidel Castro

as a Soviet proxy.

We thought with
respect to Angola,

that if the Soviet Union could
intervene at such distances

from areas that were far
from the traditional Russian

security concerns,

and when Cuban forces
could be introduced

into distant
trouble spots,

and if the West could not
find a counter to that,

that then the whole
international system

could be destabilized.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

It was a question of
globalizing our struggle,

vis-a-vis the
globalized pressures

and harassment of the US.

In this respect he
did not coincide with

the Soviet viewpoint.

We acted... but
without their co-operation.

Quite the opposite!

There were criticisms. So?

NARRATION:
North of Luanda,

Holden Robertds FNLA troops
were heading for the capital.

They wanted to seize it before
Angola's Independence Day.

They had high
hopes of success.

We actually had a
celebration party

in the CIA headquarters
in Washington.

We expected the news
by the end of the day

that we would have
captured Luanda.

NARRATION:
Led by Cubans -

the MPLA troops
halted Robertds advance.

JOHN STOCKWELL: In the middle
of the valley about 2000122 mm

rockets began landing,

and we had nothing
to answer with,

and our forces
broke and ran.

NARRATION: The military force
of the FNLA had been blunted-

America's ally
was in trouble.

A bigger challenge
now faced the MPLA.

In October 1975, South African
troops had invaded Angola.

From their bases in Namibia they
had joined forces with UNITA.

COL. JAN BREYTENBACH: We
advanced approximately, I think,

something like
80 kilometers a day.

By this time my
troops were getting good

I mean, they were really
getting on with it now -

they were out of those
vehicles and into...

into assault formations.

We'd shoot the hell out
of these people, you see,

and then they would
pack up and move,

because they
didn't expect us.

[speaking Portuguese]

The South Africans
were helping UNITA

and Zaire was
supporting the FNLA.

So it was only fair that the
MPLA asked the Cubans to come

and support us in the
struggle against the invasions.

NARRATION: Just two
days before independence,

thousands of Cuban
combat troops

began arriving in Luanda.

KAREN BRUTENTS:
[speaking Russian ]

INTERPRETER: In Moscow this
was greeted without enthusiasm.

It was only when the Cubans
had landed that we got involved.

Because the Cubans
kept asking us for help.

They wanted weapons;

they wanted food supplies.

Once we started sending
things to Angola -

we were soon
in over our heads-

even though it wasn't in
our plans to go there.

[ship's horn]

NARRATION: Moscow began
shipping hundreds of tons of arms,

tanks and missiles
direct to Luanda.

As the MPLA began rehearsals
for Independence Day,

battles were still raging
just miles from the capital.

[speaking Portuguese]

In spite of that,

it was important for us
to proclaim independence-

and we did so.

NARRATION: The MPLA celebrated
Angola's independence in Luanda.

Its enemies had failed
to take the capital.

[speaking Portuguese]

The 11th November 1975 was
the hardest day in my life.

I remembered the 14 years
I'd been fighting;

I remembered the dead,

all those who had
made sacrifices.

[announcement]

NARRATION: Agostinho Neto
greets the Soviet ambassador.

The MPLA was recognized
as Angola's government

by the Soviet Union,

Cuba and most of Africa.

Its fight against South African
troops gave the MPLA

political credibility.

South of Luanda the Cubans
prepared to end

the South African advance.

RENE HERNANDEZ:
[speaking Spanish]

It was a decisive battle

because if they
broke our defense

it would be very difficult then
to stop them getting to Luanda.

There were roads
going to the north,

roads going
to the centre -

many roads, which would
have made their advance

very powerful and fast.

[ Radio message ]

NARRATION: The
Cubans were ready waiting.

FIDEL CASTRO:
[speaking Spanish]

Angola would have been lost.

Mobutu's troops
were close to Ruanda.

The South Africans
had penetrated

over a thousand kilometers -

they were dose to Rwanda.

[mortar & cannon fire]

NARRATION: The Cuban and MPLA
forces out-gunned the South Africans.

COL.JAN BREYTENBACH:
They were shot up very badly.

I just saw these lorries with
blood dripping out of it,

and it wasn't
very nice to...

And then to go
and investigate,

and for the first time
you see that actually

your own troops are...
it wasn't very nice at all.

[speaking Portuguese]

They left everything on the field:
men, vehicles, weapons.

It was a great victory
over the South Africans.

NARRATION:
South African and American hopes

of a quick victory
over the MPLA were crushed.

Washington was
running out of options.

Right after Vietnam the
American people in no way,

and the Congress and
the media would put up

with the US putting its
forces in to control the outcome

of a country that
none of us,

none of the American
people were interested in.

The administration
fell back on the CIA.

It secretly provided
money for Roberto

and Savimbi to recruit
mercenaries from Africa,

America and Europe.

We did kill when we had
no particular reason to.

We tortured to achieve
information that they

probably didn't have,

and this was not
captured enemy soldiers:

these were probably
just local civilians.

And that atmosphere
permeated its way

through the whole unit...
we were just a loose band

of bandits with a very dangerous
leader and a few associates.

[speaking Portuguese]

Among the mercenaries, there
were some very fine soldiers.

Callan, for instance -

I've seldom seen such a good soldier.

He had phenomenal courage.

He was a psychopath,
a raving psychopath

and a couple of men right
near him were psychopaths.

NARRATION: Thirteen mercenaries
were captured by the MPLA

and put on trial.

Callan and three others
were executed.

The CIA was still active.

The Congress would have
stopped us up front if we had

not successfully lied to them,

putting in
putting in arms,

putting in advisers,
bringing in South Africa.

We kept it propped
up for a while,

but opposition was mounting.

NARRATION:
Still shocked by events in Vietnam,

the Congress out off
additional CIA funds for Angola.

This abdication of
responsibility by a majority

of the Senate will have
the gravest consequences

for the long-term position
of the United States

and for international
order in general;

a great nation cannot escape
its responsibilities.

NARRATION: In Angola,
America hoped for victory.

Instead hatreds
were inflamed.

The civil war outlasted
the Cold War itself,

leaving thousands maimed,

dead or homeless.

[ Chanting ]

NARRATION:
In 1977 the great powers' attention shifted

to the Horn of Africa.

As regimes changed,
so did alliances -

the Soviet Union and the United
States switched sides easily.

In Ethiopia the emperor
had been ousted

and replaced by Marxists.

Moscow had a new ally:
Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam.

[speaking Ethiopian ]

When the Soviets moved
into Ethiopia to assist

the communist dictator there,

Haile Mariam Mengistu,

I thought that this was a threat
to the stability of Africa.

The Soviets at that time were
proclaiming over and over again

that the scales of history were
tipping in the favor of the

Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union would outstrip
us in economic performance;

the Soviet Union was
getting a strategic edge;

the Soviet Union was
riding the crest of

the so-called National
Liberation struggles.

[ Chants ]

NARRATION: The new regime
in Ethiopia turned against America.

Mengistu expelled most of
the Americans from Ethiopia

in the following months,

arrogantly terminated the
American aid program.

NARRATION: Neighboring Somalia
had been a Soviet ally for years.

Somalia's army was equipped
with Soviet weapons.

But now that Moscow was
also linked with Ethiopia,

the Somalis considered
turning to Washington.

PAUL HENZE: They had very little
chance of getting American full support.

But they knew that if they
tried to present themselves as

anti-Soviet they would
improve their chances.

NARRATION: The Somalis turned
against the advice of their Soviet ally

and prepared for
war with Ethiopia.

But President Carter turned down
their appeal for American arms.

I thought that ...that

Somalia should not be
permitted to succeed

in trying to take
Ethiopian territory,

and I refused to give the
Somali government any weapons.

NARRATION:
Nevertheless, in July 1977,

the Somalis seized large
tracts of the Ogaden desert.

The Soviets tried to stop the
advance through diplomacy.

[speaking Russian ]

Gromyko suggested joint
mediation with the Americans,

but Brzezinski
rejected that,

saying it would
have legitimized the

Soviet presence in
the Horn of Africa.

Brzezinski felt that
the American presence

was legitimate everywhere,

but the Soviet
presence wasn't.

NARRATION: Anti-Soviet
demonstrations in Somalia greeted the

government's decision to
send the Russian advisers

and their families
back to Moscow.

All Soviet support was
now switched to Ethiopia.

The Soviet Union began
shipping in weapons

and 15,000 troops
to fight in Ethiopia.

The troops were Cuban.

[mortar fire]

[ Speaking Spanish ]

It was the only operation
we conducted in full agreement

with the Soviets.

No such co-operation
took place,

even in Latin America.

Quite the opposite!

PETR CHAPLYGIN:
[speaking Russian ]

The Cuban troops in Ethiopia
played a very important role.

The Ethiopians couldn't have
provided the military

organization to destroy the
Somali troops in such a

short period of time,
even with our help.

NARRATION: With Cuban troops
and Soviet support the Ethiopians

drove the Somalis
out of the Ogaden.

But Moscow wouldn't let the
troops advance into Somalia.

PETR CHAPLYGIN:
[speaking Russian ]

Among the Soviet military,

we thought about
occupying Somalia.

But the Soviet government
was right not to allow this,

because it would have made
our relations with countries

like the
United States of America,

Great Britain and
others more difficult.

[ Chants ]

NARRATION:
Mengistu Haile Mariam basked in glory.

The Cubans and Soviets
had saved his regime.

In Washington,

some saw the victory
as proof that

the Soviets were
abusing détente.

The Home of Africa was
not important to America

as of itself, but it was
important as a measure

and a test of how the Soviets
were interpreting détente.

[speaking Russian ]

Quarrels about the Third World

were getting blown
out of all proportion.

These disputes about Africa,
Angola, Ethiopia and Somalia -

none of them
were worth it.

Twenty years later, no-one even
remembers who was doing what.

NARRATION:
In the hunt for Cold War gains,

the super powers spawned an arms
race in the Developing World.

Their solemn promises
of restraint

were blown to the winds.