Uncle Joe wasn't going to fight with troops and tanks on the ground, no. They were in the same shape in 1945 as we'd have been if the Vietnam war had been to the death on our own soil 25 years after we'd just been through a nasty war to the death on our own soil - the Russian Revolution in their case. Yes, they were totally exhausted that way.
But a war of spy -vs- spy, economic maneuverings, propaganda, and all the rest? Sure! And China, in somewhat better shape, was dabbling in proxy wars in Asia where it could. Of course, Russia and China didn't like each other any better than we liked either one of them, or they, us. Still, Kipling's Great Game went on along all three borders for quite some time. I don't think anyone thought that the fate of the nation - or the world - rested on the wars we chose to fight in Asia, but we sure didn't want the Dragon taking any bites out of Asia. In Europe? As in the Middle East up until quite recently: two aging regimes keeping the peace with each other by being armed to the teeth and looking fierce at the other side and slapping the hands of any that reached across the quite-well-established borders. It was, of course, an uneasy peace, but ce'st la vie. Pat, who was 6 when the entire thing started and 50 when it ended, so this is as close to an eyewitness report as you're going to get from a civilian non-expert. http://idiotgrrl.livejournal.com/ > Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2010 01:05:12 +1300 > From: e...@ritchie.net.nz > Subject: Re: the Cold War > To: brin-l@mccmedia.com > > > >> The biggest fallacy regarding it was the Soviet threat which was always > >> exaggerated. Neither militarily nor politically did the soviet Union (or > >> China and other 'communist allied') ever pose an existential threat to > >> the U.S. > > > No, but it did to most of Europe... and that's what the Cold War really > > was. It was Europe-backed-by-America *not* being invaded by a LOT of tanks. > > Well, yeah, but that was pretty much decided during the Berlin airlift > when Uncle Joe made the decision that the USSR didn't want to fight. > > All that followed after that showdown was just postering. > > > _______________________________________________ > http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com >
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