The Cold War We Carry on With
By Ryan Jones and Maison Davis
In this review of The Things They Carried, Marilyn Mooney writes about the emotions and the storytelling that Tim O’Brien uses and tells about in his story. They highlight the fact that O’Brien focus on the emotion and storytelling than the warfare and battles that O’Brien and his characters go through. From O’brien’s own experiences he creates a vivid look into the emotions and minds of vietnam soldiers
The Start
To set the stage of the Cold War and how it relates to today we must know how it started and the defining conflict connecting the past to current tensions. The conflict between capitalism and communism as been high since communism entered the public mind. The ideologies are directly opposed to each other and once in implemented into global conflicts together there’s massive fights through wars and economics.
The End
The end of the cold war came after an extremely long period of tension and fear of mutually assured destruction. America came out the victor and the soviet union fell due to their loss. The Soviet’s lost can really be blamed on their falling power and internal collapse.
The Aftermath and Its Effects
The end of the cold war was drastic for the Soviet but quite unspectacular for America. In the aftermath, America had the opportunity to make huge strides with gaining global power and creating global order with its influence. America chose the short term goals over the long term, now it’s at risk of losing its status as the biggest global power.
The Cold War Changing America’s Ways
Though the opinion of the US general public had no say or power regarding foreign affairs or economic decisions prior to the Vietnam war. Things changed drastically though when the cold war ended when spending proposals on defense and foreign economic aid were inflated, contrary to the public’s belief they would lower.
Tensions With China, Is It a New Cold War?
As years go on tensions between the US and China rise and fall. During the Trump presidency President Trump on numerous occasions painted a picture of China being “A global bully that has taken advantage of the US”. Even going as far as to start a trade war with them which was eventually put to a halt due to signed deal
The Threat of Nukes
Major powers around the world continue to build their nuclear arsenals as time goes on which in itself is a very malevolent thing. The race to build and stock on arms as well as things to defend them is as old as the cold war itself. Countries like China continue to innovate their arsenal which in turn makes the nuclear power of other countries less effective
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/06/wizards-armageddon-may-be-back/
The Modern Red Scare
A driving force with today’s fear of China rising is a modern day red scare. Through the cold war to now there has been an anti communist sentiment, so strong that America has set extreme measures to fight it. There has been a long history of fear mongering about communism and socialism, and that has caused America to take political extremes to their own detriment. There is no one good way to handle the threat of china but this modern red scare can cause political extremism, like xenophobia against asians and a rise in far ideologies.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/20/us/politics/china-red-scare-washington.html
In Conclusion
The cold war and the policies and mentality it created have become apart how our modern politics work globally. The anti communist sentiment and fear of nuclear war are just as present now as they were in the cold war. With the rising fear like these there come with it huge negatives like a rise of far right movements and suppressing anything deemed “communist”. Today, America is in tension with China, the threat of communism and nukes is once again back but it’s no longer the soviet union posing it.