Word: cold
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...European missile deal could be seen as "decoupling" the defense of the U.S. from that of its allies. Gorbachev's new accommodating line could also lull the West into a false sense of security and endanger the cohesiveness of the Atlantic Alliance. By employing the very opposite of cold war tactics, the Soviets could conceivably make more headway than ever in pursuit of their long- standing goal: gaining influence throughout Europe...
Even to ask whether the cold war is over is a bit like asking, "Is God dead?" Given the brutal nature of the Soviets' aggression and their willingness to impose totalitarian systems around the world, the question can seem blasphemous -- and worse, naive. The cold war, after all, describes not just the interaction between two powerful nations but a holy struggle between two starkly opposed value systems. The phrase, first used in a speech by Bernard Baruch in 1947, implies that the relationship is, in essence, a war -- not just a rivalry between great powers but a struggle that would...
...will the cold war remain, in that sense, a war? Will the struggle that has bifurcated the world for the past 40 years continue with the same crusading fervor for the next 40? Not necessarily. The cold war has never been a stable phenomenon. Its intensity has waxed and waned over the years. The very term, as traditionally defined, now seems dated. New political and economic forces have emerged; a different set of international challenges has arisen. The Marxist model has lost much of its allure around the globe...
...Third World. New military agreements, as important as they are, would not be a true test of whether Gorbachev's words signify a real transformation of the cold war. That would require a tangible change in the Soviet Union's expansionist use of force, especially in the Third World. University of Michigan Professor Matthew Evangelista writes in the Nation magazine that in the new edition of the Communist Party program, "Soviet support for national liberation movements has changed from promises of economic and military assistance to expressions of 'profound sympathy...
Even if Moscow's actions fall far short of its rhetoric, there are forces outside the control of either superpower that are fundamentally changing the nature of the cold war. With nuclear weapons an unusable tool, the military might of the two countries has become less important in shaping global relations. In terms of economic influence and total share of global production, the status of the two superpowers is already declining...