So where was Reagan in all this, playing hop scotch?

Aramike,

the link you provided (the Wikipedia one doesn't really cover the issue) only claims that Reagan had some influence in it. Some. So the argument here is did Reagan have some influence in the collapse or none at all. Am I right here?

So, how do we go about proving that Reagan had even some influence? And also that the main decisions weren't made by people like Gorbachov, Honecker and other similar East-European leaders?

Also from the link you provided:

"Reagan’s most controversial defense initiative was SDI, the visionary project to create an anti-missile defense system that would remove the nuclear sword of Damocles from America’s homeland. Experts still disagree about the long-term feasibility of missile defense, some comparing it in substance to the Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster Star Wars. But the SDI’s main effect was to demonstrate U. S. technological superiority over the Soviet Union and its ability to expand the arms race into space. This helped convince the Soviet leadership under Gorbachev to throw in the towel and bid for a de-escalation of the arms race."

So you never heard this claim before? Granted that the writer doesn't link the SDI directly with the collapse of the USSR but as a part of the process that led to the collapse.