Exploiting the Imbalance Between False Claims and Reality
Threshold In June 12, 1987, President Reagan made a speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, calling out to General Secretary Gorbachev. He said, "If you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." This speech was directed towards the people of Western Europe. The speech highlighted the imbalance between the rhetoric and the reality of the situation. It emphasized the contrast between a political system that allowed free movement of people and a system that sought to confine citizens with barbed wire and concrete. This provocation aimed to make the obvious self-aware and release the power to dismantle the imbalance.
When Reagan made a similar provocation to Yuri Andropov in 1983, it had little effect. However, when Gorbachev declared his intention to liberalize the Soviet Union while the reality differed, the divergence between the two became significant, and Reagan seized upon this discrepancy.