Friday, October 06, 2006

...complete irony.

There are 3 generations of Americans that still exist to remember a potential holocaust of nuclear missiles clouding the sky and smashing our cities and Western Europe's cities into radioactive fallout as ours did the same to Eastern Europe and the USSR, possibly including China depending on the political winds. Those generations are the WW II Generation, The Baby Boomers, and what people call Generation X. By the way, who the hell decided I'm an X and not a K or a C?

That threat is now gone. The fall of the Soviet Union and the Iron Curtain was hailed as a precursor to that ever-elusive world peace. Grand idea. The world started breathing a bit easier. Nerves jumped a bit as India and Pakistan successfully tested nukes, but then subsided as they realized the same M.A.D. that the US and USSR dealt with for decades applied between those two nations. To be fair and logical, the fall of the Eastern Bloc was inevitable and necessary. You can only squash creativity and self expression for so long before that style of government implodes (as in the case of the USSR) or gets overthrown (with much bloodletting).

Then came 9/11. People started digging deeper into the fringes of US and USSR policies during the Cold War. Suddenly, folks realized that both nations had , shall we say, less than savory dealings with militant jackasses. Suddenly, people realized that the militant jackasses might get their hands on fissile material. That could pose a few problems. Then people realized that there was no longer anyone to put the reigns to these militant jackasses, and at least two nations with nukes or highly advanced research into nukes that might supply them with the info (North Korea and Pakistan). Thankfully, the US didn't totally succumb to 8 years of demilitarization (I was there; so if you ever read this and care to try to dispute my claim, go for it).

So where does that leave us? Ironically, the fall of the USSR leaves us in a more uncertain and potentially dangerous world than we had 3 decades ago. 30 years ago, everyone (on both sides) knew who the enemy was. Now the enemies are shadow organizations that most likely have cells entrenched in the West and the East. Read that as a warning to Russia...you're as much a target as the US is...Chechnya isn't your only worry. Why? Because both sides funded shady dealings with the militant jackasses; and once they were no longer needed to fight against the other side, the funding was cut off. That led to an escalation of anger from them (not that they needed more).

What both sides during the Cold War failed to realize was that we were helping/funding radicals who had an ultimate agenda of their own. These people fight for the sake of subjugating the entire world, but researchers never realized that 30 years ago. Or they chose to ignore it as a fancy. Well, we have reaped the harvest now. Here in the West, I dare say more people are worried about a nuclear terrorist attack then anyone ever was about an attack from the USSR.

Do I think it likely that a nuke will detonate in the US anytime soon? No, not really. There are softer targets to go after first. Like Russian cities or Europian cities. Our only hope is that the lethargic "World" mobilizes to face this threat and provides a measured military response before the first mushroom cloud galvanizes the entire modern world into extremely violent action against these fanatics who are too stupid to drag themselves out of the 13th Century. Let's face it...nuking the Middle East is in nobody's best interest; but once pushed too far, the entire West may decide it's the best option.

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