We seniors reminisce fondly about the ‘50s and ‘60s, and for the most part, they were good times . . . simpler times, for certain. But it wasn’t all fun and games. How well I remember the insane popularity of the personal air raid shelters:

I always wondered what would happen if the food ran out before it was safe to emerge; what life would be like afterwards; and where you would walk the dog in the meantime.

And there were the “duck-and-cover” drills at school, when we were told that this would protect us from an atom bomb attack:

I’m not sure the two boys at the back of the row got the message, but it wouldn’t have mattered. If the worst had happened, we would all have been toast in any event.

And from the end of the Second World War, while the Soviet Union pushed the rest of the world into an unending game of brinkmanship, we lived in the same kind of fear. The only difference was that we finally acknowledged that our desks weren’t going to save us.

Then one day — November 9, 1989 — the Berlin Wall came crashing down. And the countries of Eastern Europe began declaring their independence from Soviet rule. Finally, on December 25, 1991, the world got the biggest, bestest Christmas present it could have asked for: the hammer-and-sickle flag was lowered over the Kremlin, the Soviet Union was declared defunct, and the Cold War — officially, at least — was over. We could exhale at last.

*. *. *

And for the rest of the 20th Century we did breathe more easily. Oh, it wasn’t a world completely at peace, of course; that would be far too much to hope for. But where Russia — the “main enemy” — was concerned, we were now told to consider them our friends. We even sent money, technology, people to help them modernize and move forward into the 21st.

In other words, we let our guard down. And waiting in the wings was a small, unimpressive man from Leningrad (soon to be renamed St. Petersburg), seizing the unexpected opportunity to work his way up the ladder from KGB officer, to assistant to the Mayor of Leningrad, to the inner circle of the Kremlin in Moscow . . . to the presidency of Russia itself. And when Vladimir Putin took over, the world should once more have held its breath . . . but we didn’t. Not enough was known about this funny-looking little man, and we simply trusted that he would carry on along the path of Gorbachev’s reforms and Yeltsin’s good cheer.

And boy, were we wrong! Because this is where we are now:

What’s going on here? Why is the Norwegian army carrying on exercises called “Cold Response 2022”? What does that even mean?

Well, from the vantage point of 2024, it’s obvious: it’s a reference to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022, and the underlying, ever-present threat of more to come. And Europe — which has seen far too many devastating wars in its past — is not simply ducking under a desk for cover, or turning a blind eye to the obvious. Not this time. In 2024, they’re preparing for the worst.

Several European countries have already returned to programs of compulsory military service as one segment of increased defense measures being taken. Robert Hamilton, head of Eurasia research at the U.S. Foreign Policy Research Institute, put it this way:

“We are coming to the realization that we may have to adjust the way we mobilize for war and adjust the way we produce military equipment and we recruit and train personnel. It is tragically true that here we are, in 2024, and we are grappling with the questions of how to mobilize millions of people to be thrown into a meatgrinder of a war potentially, but this is where Russia has put us.” [Radina Gigova, CNN, July 21, 2024.]

And from former NATO Supreme Allied Commander/Europe, General Wesley Clark (Ret.):

“So we’ve now got a war in Europe that we never thought we would see again. Whether this is a new Cold War or an emerging hot war is unclear, [but] it’s a very imminent warning to NATO that we’ve got to rebuild our defenses.” [CNN, id.]

After 1991, many European countries discontinued the draft. But several countries — most notably in Scandinavia and the Baltics, which lie perilously close to Russia’s northern and western borders — have recently reintroduced it, largely due to the threat from the growling bear at their doorstep. Latvia was the latest, where a 20-year-old student’s reaction was this:

“At first there was a lot of pushback. [But ultimately] the need for a state defence service was clear. There wasn’t really an option where we can stand by and think things will go on as they were before because of the unprovoked aggression in Ukraine.” [CNN, id.]

*. *. *

So, what will it be? Another cold war, with our grandchildren and great-grandchildren having to relive our childhood nightmares? Or — unimaginably — another “hot” war in Europe? And would this one be confined to Europe? Would it even be survivable?

With all of the other conflicts ongoing in the Middle East, Asia, and just about anywhere else you might stick a pin on the map — not to mention the as-yet-unknown results of the upcoming, contentious U.S. presidential election — wasn’t this just what the world needed to cope with right now?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
7/23/24