The Good Old Days Of The Cold War

I'm old enough to remember the good old days, when East vs. West meant "How many bombs do they have, and who will use them first?" Being an Air Force kid, I think I had a heightened awareness of the dynamic, especially having lived in Turkey for a couple years, the Black Sea front. Yes, those were the good old days - or were they?

I was never more threatened by terrorism than when I lived there, and I still feel less threatened now then I did then. There were the minor acts of terrorism that never even made the news (as far as I knew), and there were the biggies, like Munich and the Achille Lauro. Even still, there was a greater fear of nukes, whether it was well founded or not. After all - enough nukes are still around, and if you believe MADD, then the likelihood of a nuke war was pretty close to nothing. The consequences, though...

When the Cold War was winding down and all of the academics, politicians and the military strategists were trying to make sense of the new landscape, I was in college studying Politial Science, or Governmental Studies or International Relations - whatever you want to call it. There was only very little attention paid to terrorism, specifically, as a prominant feature of the new set of issues. There was a lot of talk about regional hegemons popping-up, and the fires that fueled ethnic conflicts, once dampened, that were (and are still) burning again; but not much about terrorism. In fact, I wanted to write a paper on domestic terrorism for a class, but the prof. told me that there would be nothing there. Oops.

Anyway, my point is that I'm stupidly nostalgic for the Cold War and am sick of terrorism (like, who isn't?). We've all heard the comparisons between the Cold War, Post War and Post 9/11 worlds, and yes, it's very messy now. I really miss the US vs. THEM simplicity. Proxy wars, spying and shoes banging on tables added layers of interest, but it still came back to the polarized world view. As much as we try to impose that type of simplicity now, it just isn't the same. Plus, the movies and novels and music was fun! James Bond, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Get Smart- all that stuff had a levity to it. You could forget for a while that because of it all, people were living horrible lives and died.

Nowadays, we're dealing with terrorism, emerging nuclear powers and nuclear terrorism. I should be more frightened by it, but I'm really just more confused. Uncertain, really.


Call me an idiot or tell me that I have an unsophisticated opinion, but I want my Cold War era back!