Post #137
The Fall of the USSR and the Loss of the Enemy
In 1991 Georgy Arbatov, Gorbachev's diplomatic adviser, said:
"We are going to do you the worst of services: we are going to deprive you of the Enemy."
In response to this, General Maisonneuve, Canadian Army lieutenant general and NATO chief of staff, wrote:
"The Soviet Enemy had all the qualities of the good enemy: solid, constant, coherent. Militarily, it resembles us and is built on the purest Clausewitzien model. Disturbing, yes, but known and predictable. Their disappearance weakens our cohesion and renders our power useless."
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Elvira Roca Barea, 'Imperiofobia y Leyenda Negra. Roma, Rusia, Estados Unidos y El Imperio Español'. Chapter 5. (2016)
(Translation and minor edits are mine)