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During the cold war, there was a clear narrative: an ideological opposition between the US and the Soviet Union. Moments of great tension were understood as episodes within that narrative. The closest we came to nuclear confrontation was the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, when the two countries seemed on the edge of war. But the crisis itself was finished inside a fortnight, and there was a wider framework to fall back on. The 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty calmed the waters.
Then, in the early 1980s the tough-talking but critically derided , Ronald Reagan was elected US president. He reignited the cold war rhetoric and began escalating the arms race, and there was an assumption – particularly in Europe – that nuclear destruction was creeping closer. But it was still within a recognisable context. That ended with the collapse of communism, and the fall of the Berlin Wall. For a while the world felt a much safer place than it had been.
But the cold war was replaced by uncertainty. And now the uncertainty is combined with the unpredictability of Donald Trump. The recent bombing raids in Syria and Afghanistan were isolated moments, without any sense of programme or continuity. Nor does there seem any logic to why North Korea should have suddenly become a pressing issue. Incidents that seem to arrive out of the blue can be much more frightening. We're probably not on the verge of nuclear war, but it's destabilising if we can't make sense of events.
Is the world more dangerous now than during the cold war?
[Related]: Nuclear war will ignite in May 2017, mystic Horacio Villegas says
What do you think ?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Bot on Sunday April 23 2017, @08:36AM
Survivor bias, literally.
Meatbags are fine, except for the top 1% who are in serious need of an OS update to remove psychopathic behavior. And, except for the fact that most of the remaining 99% would behave exactly like the 1% given the opportunity.
Back to topic. You think you figured out the cold war? Russia and china that go from communist to unhinged capitalism without a civil war? Terrorists who first and foremost help the powers that they pledge to subvert? All states gearing up to quash internal dissent one decade in advance, and then "surprising" social/politic crises happen? Progressives who switch from anarchism to totalitarianism, conservatives that turn anarchists?
Face it, it is all security theater. The system is already one, and it will blow up parts of the planet for fun and profit, but only when its survival is not affected by it.
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