January 04, 2003

Nuclear Nostalgia

Damian Penny responds to an article in his local newspaper from a woman who -- wait for it -- thinks the world needs:

either a new global ABM and arms reduction treaty or a new arms race to restore a balance of power.
Will wonders never cease. Yes, there are people who yearn for the good old days of the Cold War, when we were all went to bed nightly with visions of nuclear winter dancing in our heads. I know why they feel that way, though: because the Soviets were paragons of cold reason compared to the freaks, loons, and religious nutters running the various Middle Eastern countries. (Yes, that's right: I called them freaks, loons, and religious nutters. As far as I am concerned that is what that collection of Dear Leaders and fake sovereigns they have over there are. And let's not even get into the matter of Kim Ill Dong, or whatever his name is, that real-life Oriental Blofeld. Though actually, I prefer Blofeld: at least he had hardbodied sexy minions.)

Posted by Andrea Harris at January 4, 2003 03:30 PM
Comments

gee mommy...do you think we can get a nuclear clock again? you know...the one which sits at whatever dumbass nuclear freeze group hosted it and we were periodically treated to frenetic press releases that detailed the moving of the hands in response to the current nuclear climate? that was soooo exciting...lord knows i always held my breath wondering if the big hand would EVER hit twelve o'clock midnight!

Posted by: mr. helpful at January 4, 2003 at 07:03 PM

I admit I sometimes pine for the old days. I remember when the Wall came down, I had all these visions of World Peace dancing around in my noggin. There was that brief window of unfettered optimism and sheer joy that's since been chained in a barrel, shot up with a machine gun, encased in a block of concrete, shoved off the back of a fishing trawler in the middle of the North Atlantic and entombed in the muck of the seabed for eternity.

For all the fears about nuclear war, at least it would've been sudden, massive and final. At least the Russians didn't play this, "Let's fly some planes into their buildings!" game. There were rules and there was order to the madness. They were also an enemy worthy of us. I doubt we'll ever see their like again.

Having said that, I also wish that we'd team up with the Russkies and tear some shit up.

Posted by: Paul at January 4, 2003 at 08:50 PM

I was in the fourth grade, living in South Miami during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Some memory flashes from my childhood...

Waiting for the school bus at the corner of the block, anti-aircraft missile batteries at the ready in the vacant lot across the street. Radar dish spinning, four rockets swiveling around, looking for targets.

Sitting in class, waiting for recess, staring out the window and seeing hundreds of armed soldiers dressed in green parachuting into the schoolyard. They all form up and march off in minutes while we cower under our desks.

Sitting in class, reading books and a duck-and-cover drill is called. Running into the hall, huddling against the walls under our coats and wondering if this is the one.

B-52s flying over the house at about 100', ducking under the radar before landing at Homestead AFB.

That is what nuclear parity entails... constant fear. Parity means theirs are about as good as ours so they might be tempted to use them. Most of the folk I hear talking that kind of crap were either born after the fifties or lived where they were not affected by it.

Yup... I want my kids and grandkids subjected to that (NOT!)

Posted by: Mike S at January 5, 2003 at 03:12 PM

btw: Russia maintained short range nukes in Cuba till 1972 or '73. These would have "only" reached as far as Charleston, SC. The Russians removed them because even they did not trust Comrade Fidel.

Posted by: Mike S at January 5, 2003 at 03:15 PM

You missed the other reason for being nostalgic for the Cold War: Anti-Americanism.

"Well, it was a dictatorship, but at least it threatened the United States."

Feh.

Posted by: Stephen M. St. Onge at January 6, 2003 at 05:02 PM