Thursday 3 April 2014

New Cold War

New Cold War


I'm a child of the Cold War. I was a kid and then teenager in those heady days. Fear was there, it was real. A tangible thing. Like being aged 13 and telling an adult to fuck off. But a million times more deadly. Potential of war, World War 3, was off the scale. East v West in a dizzying game of Armageddon. Quite a party. Everyone invited, no party poopers here. Early November 1983, NATO did Operation Able Archer. A Command and Control exercise. The Soviets thought it was real and got ready, just in case. Missiles armed, bombs near jets. Now thirty plus years later, my  scary old friend is back. I'm thrilled and terrified. It's amazing and surreal. Russia annexing Crimea like Nazi Germany in the late 30s. What next? Massed military forces moving into Ukraine proper? NATO beefs up her defences; radar planes in Poland and Romania, extra fighters in the Baltics. More Russian jets in Belarus. Up and up it goes. Worse crisis since the Cold War. When America switches focus from the Middle to the Far East. What next in our New Cold War?

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