I agree with you regarding the triumphalism of "winning" the Cold War when it was more of a case of the Soviet bullfrog, having puffed itself up beyond sustainability - exploding.

The same neo-cons would have apoplexy if you suggested that the Vietcong, simply by being around when the American forces destroyed their own self-belief, "defeated" the entire US amed forces.

I suppose in five hundred years from now, Chinese historians will conclude that the only effect of years of turmoil and the deaths of 50-75 million people was to move forward the date when an American landed on the moon from 1999 to 1969...