NationStates Jolt Archive

I look back, and everything was better then. It's depressing than just as I was born, the whole thing ended.

I look back, and everything was better then. It's depressing than just as I was born, the whole thing ended.


Pretty good going, but only in the end.
There was that great period after 1984 when you couldd just feel the other guy breaking, losing his will.
And then there was the Fall of the Wall.


Ah, the Cold War was the West's Finest Hour - if a bit long...

I look back, and everything was better then. It's depressing than just as I was born, the whole thing ended.
Better in regards to what? I think it may look better because people were too distracted with the communist menace to pay attention to other things, but overall was pretty much the same.

Except Bond movies, those were better.

It’s depressing than just as I was born, the whole thing ended.
Don’t worry! Instead of merely two countries with nuclar capability we now have eight (or nine, depending on if you believe Israel has a nuclear weapon); the US, Russia, UK, France, India, Pakistan, the PRC and North Korea. Yaaaaaaaay! Melty death for everybody!

Better in regards to what? I think it may look better because people were too distracted with the communist menace to pay attention to other things, but overall was pretty much the same.

Except Bond movies, those were better.

In regards to Europe, and also to warfare, it was better. Europe was better divided, and you didn't worry about islamic extremists.

Don’t worry! Instead of merely two countries with nuclar capability

There were more back then, too. And back then sucked in so far as it was a paranoid, delusional time whose greatest moment was its demise.

Don’t worry! Instead of merely two countries with nuclar capability we now have eight (or nine, depending on if you believe Israel has a nuclear weapon); the US, Russia, UK, France, India, Pakistan, the PRC and North Korea. Yaaaaaaaay! Melty death for everybody!
Well seeing as there weren't 'merely' two countries with nuclear weapons during the Cold War, there were at least five, that's not that much of an increase.

Don’t worry! Instead of merely two countries with nuclar capability we now have eight (or nine, depending on if you believe Israel has a nuclear weapon); the US, Russia, UK, France, India, Pakistan, the PRC and North Korea. Yaaaaaaaay! Melty death for everybody!

10, if you include the possibility that there are still some left in Ukraine from the USSR.

In regards to Europe, and also to warfare, it was better. Europe was better divided, and you didn't worry about islamic extremists.

You just worried about nuclear holocaust and communist spies. The division of Europe hailed as a good thing just goes to show you were never around to see the sorry state.

Don’t worry! Instead of merely two countries with nuclar capability we now have eight (or nine, depending on if you believe Israel has a nuclear weapon); the US, Russia, UK, France, India, Pakistan, the PRC and North Korea. Yaaaaaaaay! Melty death for everybody!

Britain had nukes all through the Cold War. Don't get all full the fake glory of past America :P

I look back, and everything was better then. It's depressing than just as I was born, the whole thing ended.
It was nice because it kept all the crazy bed-wetters focused on one set of boogymen: the Russians.

These days, you've gotta keep checking the papers in order to know who is THE GREAT THREAT TO FREEDOM each week. Is it the gays? The Jews? The Mexicans? The Muslims? The feminists? The godless libruls at the New York Times? The bed-wetters are all over the goddam place, and it takes a lot of effort to keep up with them.

In the cold war it was cold , we did have plenty of potatoes , vodka , cabbage and beefburgers:sniper: :sniper: :sniper: ,america hated russia...america helped the Mujahadeen which became the taliba:mp5: :mp5: n and people got stabbed with poison balls in london ( bulgarian guy) , britain loved iraq and saddam...britain hated Argentina , brasil were brilliant at football , everyone had a decent haircut and there were loads of hippies to bash!!!!!

In Soviet Russia, Cold War ended with social and political democratic reform in YOU!

I for one miss the 90s and the H.W. Bush and Clinton eras. Probably in part because it was my childhood, but also because it was relatively peaceful for my country when compared to the Cold War before it and the War on Terror after it. My dad does have a nostalgic feeling for the 50s and early 60s part of the Cold War, but not the Vietnam era.

Cold War or Hot War,...it all leads to one thing--Superpower nations squandering their wealth on military expenditures.

The US demise is not far off. Look at the double deficit.

When the country goes bankrupt, Halliburton will buy up all the States as subsidiaries.

Well seeing as there weren’t ‘merely’ two countries with nuclear weapons during the Cold War, there were at least five, that’s not that much of an increase.
Oops, my bad. Well, my point still stands; there’s still plenty of death to go around, plenty of nuclear stand-offs around the world.

Oops, my bad. Well, my point still stands; there’s still plenty of death to go around, plenty of nuclear stand-offs around the world.


:D

Ah - time to resolve more conflicts.
In OUR favour.

Don’t worry! Instead of merely two countries with nuclar capability we now have eight (or nine, depending on if you believe Israel has a nuclear weapon); the US, Russia, UK, France, India, Pakistan, the PRC and North Korea. Yaaaaaaaay! Melty death for everybody!

Check your history: the US, the USSR, UK, France, China and India all had nuclear weapons during the Cold War.

Don’t worry! Instead of merely two countries with nuclar capability we now have eight (or nine, depending on if you believe Israel has a nuclear weapon); the US, Russia, UK, France, India, Pakistan, the PRC and North Korea. Yaaaaaaaay! Melty death for everybody!
Actaully, alot of those countries had that capability during the cold war

and Israel is estimated at having around 200 nukes.


EDIT: Someone beat me to this

The South Africans had them for a while aswell

The Cold War was pretty fun. Have you ever seen Red Dawn? Patrick Swayze was in it. It is a movie about Russia invading America. Kids could sit around and fantacize about what it would be like to fight Russians in their neighborhoods. It made practicing with a BB gun purposeful. It is kinda gay to sit around thinking about fighting al quaeda in your backyard because Al-Quaeda is not the sort to possibly invade your neighborhood.

It was also pretty cool in that if you met some liberal you could say hey why don't you move to the USSR and see how you like it. Now it is pretty gay because whta are you going to say to a liberal? "If you do not like it why don't you move to Manhattan?"

The Cold War was pretty fun. Have you ever seen Red Dawn? Patrick Swayze was in it. It is a movie about Russia invading America. Kids could sit around and fantacize about what it would be like to fight Russians in their neighborhoods. It made practicing with a BB gun purposeful. It is kinda gay to sit around thinking about fighting al quaeda in your backyard because Al-Quaeda is not the sort to possibly invade your neighborhood.

It was also pretty cool in that if you met some liberal you could say hey why don't you move to the USSR and see how you like it. Now it is pretty gay because whta are you going to say to a liberal? "If you do not like it why don't you move to Manhattan?"

RED DAWN WAS THE BEST!! YAY WOLVERINES!!!

I look back, and everything was better then. It's depressing than just as I was born, the whole thing ended.

Ah, the joys of retrospect, nostalgia etc. You get to gloss over the crap and emphasize the good.

There was a great deal good about the cold war era in the US. There was less of a gap between rich and poor. Most people could afford to own their own home. There was a greater feeling of personal safety and security (in terms of crime and finance). AIDS didn't exist. We trusted the government and each other.

But there were a few glitches in the system - Korea, VietNam, racial discrimination, gender discrimination, an economic system that systematically ignored certain classes of labor (like agricultural labor), pesticides in the air and drinking water, pollution.

Would I go back, maybe, if I had total recall and investment capital.

Well the economy was better than it has been since. A "good" economy now would have been total depression then. And people really gave a damn about other people and the world at large. Most people took a fatalist view of the cold war just as they do of terrorism today. The real advantage was the US and USSR kept their puppets under control. Unlike now where anyone in the world can go on the attack. Real big attrocities were kept under control by the big boys. And we at least knew the USSR was controlled by sane people. I don't know of anyone who really thought either side would push the button. Today there are plenty of crazies with WMD's.

I really feel sorry for those that don't remember 1968. It was truely the "best of times and the worst of times". Those too young to remember that year can't even imagine how good the world and the people who live in it can be. At the same time they also can't imagine how terrible the world and those who live in and lead it can be. Somehow when Bobby and Martin were killed the world quit dreaming of greatness. Everyone seemed to turn inward and only think of themselves. I don't remember one world leader either political or social since that said, This is an Ideal world, follow me and I will lead you closer to it. No, now every leader reacts rather than leads.

Ill say this about the Cold War(I didnt live through it, but meh), things certainly looked ALOT less random back then.

Check your history: the US, the USSR, UK, France, China and India all had nuclear weapons during the Cold War.

Huh?

Its true, India tested its nuke in the 70s.

Huh?

To which I can only respond in kind: Huh?

'Smiling Buddha'.

Look it up.

The South Africans had them for a while aswell

Indeed. Good catch.

In the cold war it was cold , we did have plenty of potatoes , vodka , cabbage and beefburgers:sniper: :sniper: :sniper: ,america hated russia...america helped the Mujahadeen which became the taliba:mp5: :mp5: n and people got stabbed with poison balls in london ( bulgarian guy) , britain loved iraq and saddam...britain hated Argentina , brasil were brilliant at football , everyone had a decent haircut and there were loads of hippies to bash!!!!!

I thought that was a poison umbrella?

The Soviet Union proved that communism, in its human form, doesn't work worth shit. That makes me happy :)

I look back, and everything was better then. It's depressing than just as I was born, the whole thing ended.

Being scared you were going to die at any time sucked. One of the runaway hits (like, #1 in my part of the country ) of 1984 (I think it was) was "99 Red Balloons" which was a tuneful contemplation that it would probably start by accident and we'd all be dead with just random artifacts to show we had ever been :)

The economic stability over large stretches of it was mostly an artifact of America dominating the world commercially and being able to sell as much of everything as they wanted. WW II had set all of the competition back badly. (The British were on RATIONS till sometime in the mid or late 50's!)

From the period starting in 1973 on...between American commitments to defense, The Grand Society, and other hobbyhorses...combined with their plummeting international market share in many goods (though still the largest) meant a very very wobbly ride. The 80's was mostly made up of two sharp recessions and the half-effective attempts to recover from them, for example.

Wasn't great to be queer either. And blacks and women had to work hard to wrest their rights from an uncaring establishment. Because the Cold War was an anti-modernizing influence. With the government being to justify anything it wanted in the name of the greater struggle....many issues were swept under the rug or dealt with unjustly or peremptorily.

And American foreign policy still sucked teh c*ck badly (overall) as it has for most of its history, as it has for it's history since. Being the ulimtate guarantor of the freedom of the majority of the industrialized world was a very corrupting source of power. The institutional memory which it left in their foreign ministry is still echoing around.

Still, it was a period that saw the conclusive testing and defeat of Authoritarian Socialism and the disproof of the idea "A Benevolent Dictatorship is the Ideal Form of Government"...though it would probably have been less traumatic to invade Russia in the early 50's. It would have been an interesting fight of dwarves at this point because despite rearmament both were still shadows of their WWII selves. Losing a half dozen cities to the Russian bomb would have probably been cheaper in the long run than the billions and billions of dollars squandered in the arms race.

Unfortunately, such an option happened to be impossible because the Americans had spread too much positive propaganda about their good allies Joe Stalin and the Russians. It's annoying . America often styles itself the master of Realpolitik and yet when the time comes for the hard decisions, they get deferred because no one can adequately explain them to the ignorant masses, much less secure their approval....for the truly key questions.

Overall, I'd say it was an inevitable period with some simplicities and benefits and some seriously annoying bad parts.

I thought that was a poison umbrella?
It was an umbrella that fired a tiny metal ball coated with poison. The dude was stabbed in the leg, then the agent fired the ball into the muscle. Probably pinched a bit, but not enough to worry him.

A few days later, he was dead. They found the ball, that was the only way they found out that it probably wasn't a natural cause. Although I believe they only found out the full story when the Russians opened their archives.

The job prospects in my career field were certainly better during the Cold War.

Bad, what with the rise of globalism and the fall of any real oposition to "democracy."

Bad, what with the rise of globalism and the fall of any real oposition to "democracy."
I see both of those things as very, very good.

cold war isnt my style, I prefer nuclear wasteland and iguana's on a stick ;)

It seemed likely that the world as we know it might end in the forseeable future.

When people say that the Al'Qieda threat is comparable I am amazed at their memories.

cold war isnt my style, I prefer nuclear wasteland and iguana's on a stick ;)

Prime Choice is made from people!!!

Don’t worry! Instead of merely two countries with nuclar capability we now have eight (or nine, depending on if you believe Israel has a nuclear weapon); the US, Russia, UK, France, India, Pakistan, the PRC and North Korea. Yaaaaaaaay! Melty death for everybody!

The Cold War saw nuclear weapons in the hands of: the USA (1945), the USSR (1949), the UK (1952), France (1960), the PRC (1964), India (1974), and probably Israel (possibly as early as 1966) and South Africa (1979 - look up the Vela Incident 1 (http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/israel/nuke-test.htm), 2 (http://www.isis-online.org/publications/southafrica/03012001%20press%20release%20on%20flash.html) ).


Check your history: the US, the USSR, UK, France, China and India all had nuclear weapons during the Cold War.

Smiling Buddha - a 2-20 kT, but most likely around 8kT, "peaceful" device tested in 1974.
http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/India/IndiaSmiling.html

Well I guess you know, your forgeting, *cough* Vietnam! paranoia of communism in the cold war led to the first US defeat and 58,000 Americans, 450,000 NVA, 250,000 ARVN, and up to 1 million Vietnamese civilians being shlaughtered between 1954 and 1975.... and there is still a giant rift within America because of that war.

Nostalgia isn’t as good as it used to be.

Prime Choice is made from people!!!
Mmmm... lizard people...

Prime Choice is made from people!!!

http://www.mobygames.com/images/i/45/09/161059.jpeg

I love Iguana Bob's reaction when you buy some Prime Choice, after you've blackmailed him! :)

Seeing as a lot of what we're dealing with now is from the 'good' of the Cold War, yeah...not so much. bin Laden? Cold War conflict in Afgahnistan. Hussain, he was our buddy by Cold War logic. So much 'enemy of my enemy is my friend' nonsense that they never seemed to notice when that 'friend' was far more of an asshole then was totally worth it. And then you have all the 'containment' and red scare McCarthy bullshit that others have mentioned. Yeah...no thanks.

http://www.mobygames.com/images/i/45/09/161059.jpeg

I love Iguana Bob's reaction when you buy some Prime Choice, after you've blackmailed him! :)

:fluffle:

Ahhhhhhh.

Man, I think it's about time I played Fallout again.

The good: it was a relatively peaceful epoch. Apart from Africa, most countries were in play - the stakes were just too high for the genocides which seem to be always breaking out now.
China built a solid reputation by not playing the game. (Of course, they cheated in Korea, and Vietnam.) The "non-aligned movement" was the source of those idealistic programs which Americans love to mock, but which never hurt anybody.
EDIT: The Marshall Plan, which worked brilliantly, and hence foreign aid.
No-one got nuked. The stakes were too high for that.

The bad: both sides armed a lot of troubled countries who otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford guns, let alone tanks or helicopters. Countries like Cuba and Afghanistan got used as pawns, to the detriment of their people.
We all lived in fear. The chance of devastation was probably low, but the stakes were sky-high.
Communism was totally discredited, by losing an arms race which came down to economic strength. If the USSR had given back Europe, stayed out of Asia, and concentrated on improving their citizens' standard of living instead of the arms race, they'd be doing fine now. Perhaps a few European countries would be communist democracies.
We got addicted to Cold War, begetting the dumbass War on Terror.

Thank God for Gorbachev. It's easy to say that he bowed to the inevitable, but that's no easy thing to do.