This chapter explores that the Cold War ended a year and a half prior to the collapse of the Bolshevik system. Events during that period demonstrate that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) could have taken an active part in the establishment of the new world order, even without renouncing the primacy of socialism. If the basis for the Cold War was entirely ideological, one might assume that it began in October 1917 and ended in August 1991, with the downfall of the communist regime. The deadlocked war in Afghanistan had revealed the incompetence of the huge Soviet military machine. The loss of Soviet supremacy in Eastern Europe substantially undermined Mikhail Gorbachevs domestic policy. The Soviet Union was tied to Iraq by a Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation. The Administration of George Bush got off to a quick start in foreign policy, particularly in US-Soviet relations.