I miss the Cold War days....

[Lew]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/art...html?gusrc=rss

I'm serious. I'm a student of history, but my favorite areas of concentration are WWII and the Cold War.

I think as more time passes, we're going to see the release of more of this kind of information. There was a lot of paranoia on both sides, I'm sure some outrageous toughts were had by all.

For the record, bastards that they may have been, the Soviets cannot be blamed solely for what happened. In fairness to them, three times in the previous 130 years they had been invaded from the west. Each time, they lost a large chunk of their population. It has been claimed that, for every five baby boys born in Russia in 1923, only one lived to see his 22nd birthday. I think especially after what happened with the Nazis, they decided enough is enough, no one from the west is ever invading us again. And like I said, I can't really blame them in light of the historical record.

There is now an old minuteman missile silo in South Dakota that has been turned into a National Park, I want to go check it out sometime. Love those Cold War relics. Wright-Patt also has a new Cold War wing that rocks.

[Raven Soul]

Being someone that grew up in the time of it's collapse I wish I could give a more of an insightful comment, however being not-so-edumacated I will say this. It was nice to see how happy everyone was at the fall of the iron curtain, but it does pain me a little bit that all the tension and animosity that was associated with the iron curtain has been replaced by poverty and the growth of more countries that support terrorist activities, such as the terrorists who attacked the theater and the school. It seems to me that while communism is may not be the best way to govern a country, I am left wondering if we are actually better off without it.

[cincygreg]

I think Master Shake makes an interesting point. In the cold war era, we at least knew who our enemy was, where they were and what they were. In the era of what could really only be called freelance terrorism, what we know of our enemy seems to be equal to what we dont know about them.

<font color="#FFFFAA" size="1">[ November 30, 2005 10:32 AM: Message edited by: cincygreg ]</font>

[Lew]

I've long felt that way. When Reagan died, much was said about his legacy and the end of the Cold War. Same for the Pope when he died. (Margaret Thatcher also deserves credit as well). Conservatives won't admit it, but Gorbachev played a big role as well.

Now, BurgerChef and Jeff, while icons of American might, did NOT play a role in ending the Cold War.

But yes, I agree whole-heartedly. The Cold War was about, among other things, order. West v. East. NATO v. Warsaw Pact. Imperialism v. Communism. Everyone lined up on their neat little sides. When other countries "acted up" during that time, they were dealt with by the big boys- the Soviets dealt with Hungary in 1956, Czechoslovakia in 1968; we dealt with the Shah of Iran in the 1950s, Chile in 1973; obviously we had our Vietnam, the Soviets had their Afghanistan.

Yes, the Iron Curtain fell, and that is good but there came with it a downside. There was no one left to suppress all the ethnic hatred that had been simmering, so we had all the crap in the Balkans during the 90s, we had Pakistan and India flaring up, we had North Korea doing their thing, I'm still waiting for China to invade Taiwan, all the uneasiness in the Middle East, etc.

We do not have order anymore. Now, I remain hopeful that things will settle in time, but you have to admit that, since the end of the Cold War, there has been more instability, not less.

[jumper69]

Great points Lewman about order. The cold war might have made both sides nervous but like the lewman pontificated, it was about order. Each side knew what that other would do in any given situation.

There is an old saying: Professionals are predictable but the world is full of amatuers.

Meaning: Since the fall of the wall, the world has been about as stable as George Bush when told he has to report for active duty.

[Lew]

Absolutely, Jumper. And lest anyone misunderstand me, I am not condoning what the Soviets did during the Cold War era, and for the record I view Stalin as every bit the bad guy as Hitler was, and probably even worse since he was responsible for more killings.

But the history of the world is one of conflict, it's only a matter of how severe, i.e. in certain times the conflict is worse than others. We are in a time full of conflict, and that's not to say it will always be this way, but certainly the end of the Cold War created a vaccuum and we all know how nature feels towards vaccuums.