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| 27 February 1998 | |||||
| As far as the United States and its interests are concerned, the world is safer since the end of the Cold War. However, before one can determine the safety of the world or the safety of the United States' interests, the definition of "safety" must be discerned. Safety has been defined in Webster's College Dictionary as "the state of being safe from the risk of experiencing or causing injury, danger, or loss." When comparing the safety of the world before and after the Cold War, this risk must be assessed. Thus, the question to be answered is not what happened before the Cold War ended and what has happened since; rather, one should ask, "Did the goals and strategies of international players during the Cold War put the world and the United States at risk for greater danger than they currently face now that the Cold War is over?" By examining the intended ends and the employed means of the most powerful world actors, this threat of danger can be determined. | |||||
| The term "Cold War" in and of itself denotes the biggest concerns to nations before 1990; a war was fought for over 40 years between two conflicting ideologies in various locations around the world. The very nature of this war made the world a very unsafe place to be; two superpowers were endeavoring to gain supremacy ahead of the other, leading to a tension that has not been felt since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989. Caught in the crossfire of the battles between American democracy and Soviet communism, the world was held hostage to their whims. Since this crossfire has stopped, the potential for injury has fallen; one feels much more threatened by a gun pointed at their head than by a gun in someone's pocket. Though nations have not lived in harmony since the Cold War ended, this worldwide risk of danger posed by endless lusting for power is over; the resulting residue is incomparable to that overwhelming threat. | |||||
| During the Cold War, world power was divided between two camps: the Western liberals, headed by the monolithic capitalist society of the United States, and the bearers of Marxist-Leninism, spawned by the USSR. Although the United States and the Soviet Union remained allies even after the end of World War II, the groundwork for their dispute began in 1917, when a coup led by Vladmir Lenin turned the Soviet Union into a socialist country. The ideas that led to the popularity of the regime simultaneously led to a backlash against capitalist states. Russian communism taught that history was a class struggle between the privileged, wealthy upper class and the poor, landless proletariat. Capitalism, with its emphasis on maximizing profits by exploiting helpless workers, was its nemesis. To this end, the Soviets viewed the Western capitalists as mortal enemies. Humanity's liberation would come only through the communizing of the entire world. This meant that the USSR would be belligerent and stoic in its fight to spread the glories of communism. | |||||
| Equally unmoving in its ideology was the United States, who viewed the Soviet push for power as the greatest threat to freedom. Western powers had long ago instituted republics and democracies with individuals' rights and popularly elected governments at the center of their political philosophy. With the issuance of the Truman Doctrine in 1947, America set its sights on ensuring that communism would be contained. It accepted global responsibility while maintaining its own interests of capitalism and free markets. Although different factions within the democracy justified containment many different ways, it was the chosen course of action to halt and dismantle the increasingly communist world around them. | |||||
| Eastern Europe was the first region of the world to fall prey to the Russian desire for expansion. Beginning in 1945 with the occupation of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania, the Soviets made their undeniable thirst for power known. The United States quickly responded with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949, signaling its willingness to defend its interests in Europe and elsewhere against Soviet invasion. This break from the traditional American policy of isolationism catapulted the world into a place of uneasiness; rather than all countries defending their interests when the need arose, two emerging superpowers were openly engaging in dispute. Once China signed a treaty of mutual assistance with the Soviet Union in 1950, the stage was set for global controversy, heightening tensions even more. The friction caused by these disparities made the Cold War period perilous for all involved. | |||||
| The strategies that each power used in their attempt to gain preeminence escalated the risk of danger. The United States first employed George Kennan's policy of containment in 1950 when they intervened in the Korean Civil War on behalf of the South Koreans. By taking such an aggressive stance in their containment policy, the United States abandoned its former Euro-centric approach and dared anyone in the world to defy them. The communists were quick to follow suit - China entered the war in the same year after the United States' troops advanced too close to the Chinese frontier. Conflicts between the United States and China once again flared in 1955 after China bombed two islands under the control of the Nationalist Chinese. The Soviet Union continued to polarize the world with the introduction of the Warsaw Pact in the same year. In the decade that followed, several other skirmishes around the world in which either the United States or the USSR participated showed both country's willingness to fight to gain superiority. The battlefields extended to the Middle East, Hungary, Africa, and Latin America. The entire world was terrorized as these superpowers vied for power. | |||||
| This was only intensified by the desire of both parties to develop huge nuclear arsenals. Although the United States was the first to develop nuclear weapons and the only country to actually use them, by 1949, the USSR had obtained nuclear capabilities. The ensuing race centered on developing superior weapons and larger arsenals. Although an effort was made to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons once the technology and components to make the weapons started to spread, the need for every county to feel as though they too had the nuclear advantage only increased the amount of risk of nuclear war. Although this particular threat remained even after the Cold War ended,� the actual likelihood of a nuclear holocaust was at its highest during the Cold War. | |||||
| This likelihood reached its peak in 1962 when the Soviet Union established a military base in communist Cuba, only 90 miles from the American mainland. Enraged, the United States placed a blockade around the country to ensure that no more missiles were delivered. Had the Soviet Union decided to flex its military might and break the blockade, the precarious balance of power between the superpowers would have been destroyed. However, the Soviets failed to act, and a possible tragedy was avoided. Yet this crisis showed America's willingness to use nuclear arms to defend their territory, meaning that the threat of a nuclear strike - presumably with a nuclear retaliation from its foe - was never far away. | |||||
| Numerous treaties tried to limit this threat, but to little or no avail before the Cold War ended. Only a year after the Cuban missile crisis, the atomic test-ban treaty was signed, although countries continued to explode nuclear devices, as India did in 1974. 1968 marked the first year of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but it too was ineffective. The Strategic Arts Limitation Treaty (SALT I) was signed by Nixon in 1972, but two years later, more negotiations were needed, resulting in SALT II guidelines for limiting production. During this time, both countries still wielded their nuclear might.���� | |||||
| The end of the Cold War spelled an end to the looming threat of a war between the superpowers. Once the Soviet Union dissolved into its various parts, the ideological battles were reduced to harmless bickering. Although democracy may not have triumphed over the world, the United States was the decisive winner of the Cold War. Emerging as the world's only superpower both militarily and economically, the United States had no arch enemy to engage in a global battle. Countries around the world could breathe a sigh of relief. The race was over, and, although they still were faced with internal coups and bellicose nations, the threat of danger to most countries has lessened exponentially. No longer in the midst of bouts of supremacy, each country could focus instead on the matters that had concerned them long before the Cold War and long after. | |||||
| America has sought to define its foreign policy ever since containment ceased to be an issue. Without a great ideal to fight for, America has intervened on several occasions under the guise of peace-keeping or sustainable development, as in Haiti and Somalia. These efforts clearly highlight the safety of the present-day world; instead of two powers trying to gain the upper hand in every dispute around the world, the United States intervenes more for its own national interests (usually driven by economics), with no other country playing a large role in global intervention. It thus appears that the United States is without an opponent. | |||||
| Defensive measures have also become more important as the world evolved beyond bilateral politics. NATO, once heralded as the force which would stop the spread of communism in Europe, continues its expansion to include former communist countries, such as the Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary. In an ironic twist, there is now even an advisory position for Russia. The objectives the Americans presented during the Persian Gulf War also point to a safer world. Rather than a reenactment of Guatemala in 1954, when the Central Intelligence Agency overthrew their left-wing government, the United States did not attempt to depose Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Instead, they limited their goals to the destruction of Iraq's weaponry. The United States' mission is no longer to dictate democracy; rather, its policy reflects a growing trend toward stabilization and peace-keeping efforts. | |||||
| These efforts manifested themselves in the respective civil wars in Zaire and Cambodia as well. Although United Nations forces were deployed in 1960 after the Congo declared itself independent from Belgium, the action taken by the United Nations was decisively different when Laurent Kabila and his forces removed Mobutu Sese Seko from Zaire. During the Cold War, Cambodia was of such import that the United States invaded it in 1970 to halt communism; by 1997, it was evident that Cambodia no longer warranted United States interest - the United States did nothing when Hun Sen ousted Prince Norodom Ranariddh. The growing trend from interventionism marks another reason for the world to feel safe. Without a superior outside force imposing its demands, each country is more in charge of its destiny. | |||||
| Ideology has lost importance as economics has asserted itself as the United States' primary interests. Nowhere is this more evident than with the case of China. During most of the Cold War, China was seen as part of the communist enemy. The United States supported the Taiwanese government and even proposed to use force to protect it from mainland China. Toward the end of the Cold War, the United States reversed its position, formalizing relations with China in 1979 and ending its alliance with Taiwan. In a complete ideological turnabout, the United States now grants China Most Favored Nation status. With the introduction of economics as the primary motivator of world affairs, less emphasis is placed on military strength or dominance. | |||||
| With the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) in 1991, important steps were made not only to limit nuclear weapon production but to actually reduce nuclear weapons. Yet another indicator of growing safety, this shows a� shift from gaining nuclear supremacy to lowering the threat of a nuclear attack. Even though more countries may now have nuclear devices than nuclear powers during the Cold War, the global efforts that have been made to detect, limit, and destroy nuclear weapons clearly shows that this threat is rapidly deteriorating. | |||||