Cold War II?

Our children were too young to remember the "Cold War", and it was over before our grandchildren were born. After World War II the Russians began to annex countries all through Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union was born. Millions of people in Poland, Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Lithuania, and many other small eastern bloc countries who were previously dominated by the Germans, succumbed to Russian communist rule. As communism spread throughout Eastern Europe, fear started to spread here in the USA as the Russians expanded their empire. So the Cold War began - USA vs Russians; who could "out threat" the other; who could outspend the other on their military build up; the nuclear race was on and an incredible number of nuclear weapons were developed. In the USA, missiles in silos were aimed at Russia, in Russia similar missiles were aimed at the USA. Both countries developed nuclear submarines that could go anywhere in the world and wait for the order to fire their arsenal of nuclear weapons. I recall people building bomb shelters in their backyards in the event of a nuclear attack. As a teenager I became a "civil air" volunteer working one night a week tracking and reporting all aircraft sightings over our small town in Florida. Everyone thought a nuclear attack from Russia was possible.

War threats went back and forth during the 50's, 60's, and 70's. Diplomacy was the order of the day; promises and treaties, but nothing changed. Both countries were on a collision course. Then something happened - Ronald Reagan was elected President and decided that the only approach to the Russian threat was to build our military up to a strength that would discourage any enemy. So each side continued to build up their militaries; then another thing happened - the Russians went broke. Their economy was breaking down, citizens were protesting for more freedom, there was civil unrest in all the satellite countries, and the so-called "Soviet Union" broke down - symbolized in history by the destruction of the Berlin Wall. Millions of people throughout Eastern Europe became free and finally controlled their own destiny. Russia withdrew to their original borders and tried to repair their society. Ronald Reagan had won the cold war.

The Russians began rebuilding their economy and even installed a "quasi" democracy. They started developing their vast natural resources, especially oil and natural gas. Now they are totally energy self-sufficient and have Europe in their grasp, supplying a significant portion of Europe's energy. During this same period, we knuckled under to the "Eco Extremists" here in our country, limited our drilling and development of nuclear and other energy resources, and today we are dependent on 70% foreign sources for our energy, and many of these foreign sources do not like us.

Now that the price of oil has reached $100 + per barrel Russia is flush with "liquid gold" and are able to laugh at the rest of the world. They have money and are building a large military again. The recent invasion of Georgia had no real response from Europe or the USA. We and Europe issued all the classic diplomatic cliches - "This was unfortunate", "This is unacceptable", "Russia needs to recognize the sovereignty of Georgia". The truth is, the USA is bogged down in the Mid East and Europe is so dependent on energy from Russia, neither of us had any choice but to "walk softly" when criticizing the Russian invasion.

Russia seems to be on an expansion program again, refusing to withdraw from Georgia and claiming that South Ossetia (which is within Georgian borders) is now "sovereign" territory. Recently their President said "We are not afraid of another cold war" - why not, they are now rich in oil. One of their top generals even recently said "The installation of USA defensive missiles in Poland could justify a nuclear response". So the military bluster begins again, reminiscent of the old cold war.

Meanwhile we fight and argue amongst ourselves and come up with no energy plan. Better to not disturb the Caribou in Anwar than to work toward USA energy independence. So we will see what the future brings, but those of us that lived through the last cold war realize this could be serious, and the USA must develop more energy security. As for me, I want John McCain in the White House if the "Russian Bear" comes calling again.