Explore: How We Got Here – Part 2
The Cold War
This is the second blog of a two-part series known as “How We Got Here.” The first part focused on the pact known as the Balfour Agreement of 1917 whereby the British government announced it would support the creation of a Jewish homeland in the Middle East following the conclusion of World War I. While allowing the Jewish people to return to their rightful land, the new nation of Palestine, as it was known at that time, the promised land was now surrounded by Muslim nations, who were not in agreement with their land being given to the Jews, their hated enemy. The Balfour Agreement was the foundation for why so many conflicts, acts of hatred and wars have taken place in the Middle East since Israel became a nation in May 1948.
The other historical event which has also contributed to monumental shifts in how we see our world since World War II is the Cold War. What is a “cold war?” According to Oxford, a cold war is “a state of political hostility between countries characterized by threats, propaganda, and other measures short of open warfare.” One would think the end of World War II would bring peace, but the Cold War broke out almost immediately following the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender aboard the USS Missouri on September 2, 1945. The Cold War, between the United States and the U.S.S.R., proliferated the need to build more nuclear weapons and may not have happened if man had failed to discover the power of the atom.
The decades following World War II was a unique time in as far as a power vacuum was created with the defeat of the Third Reich and the Japanese Empire. Both the United States and the Russian Empire were eager to fill this gap. Both countries aspired to unilateral world domination but could not achieve this goal by launching nuclear weapons at each other. With weapons so powerful, the fear of a global human extinction event outweighed the aspiration of world domination. In short, MAD, or mutually assured destruction, kept both countries from using their new weapons against the other because of the fear of being wiped out when the other side retaliates. Even though a stalemate was achieved between the two superpowers, their ability to influence world events had not been constrained. In fact, the two nations began to simply leverage their power over other nations to ensure their political, economic and cultural views could be spread throughout the world. Let’s look at some of these historical events to better understand how the Cold War has shaped the world we know today.
The Cold War was a global war. Fighting did not take place on a global scale but was replaced by proxy wars for control of nations throughout the world. Both the United States and the U.S.S.R. were actively involved with initiating regional wars or engaging in existing conflicts with the intent of placing their finger on the scale of power to ensure the side with the closest political beliefs would win. Their involvement included supplying weapons, assassinating key figures, and sending military troops to supplement existing troops or, on some occasions, leading the war effort for a nation.
The Vietnam War would be an excellent example of the United States stepping in and running the military operations to counter the Russian and Chinese troops supporting the North Vietnamese cause. The United States and U.S.S.R. were also involved in other conflicts in Asia such as the Bangladesh Liberation War and the Indonesian Occupation of East Timor. The Cold War reached into Africa as the world superpowers engaged in conflicts in the Angolan Civil War, Mozambican Civil War as well as conflicts in Congo. The Cold War even encroached on U.S. borders. The superpowers meddled in the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Salvadoran Civil War, Dominican Civil War and the Nicaraguan Revolution. In Chile, the U.S. even helped assassinate the commander-in-chief of the Chilean Armed Forces to overthrow the democratically elected president. This assassination led to a Chilean coup which allowed a corrupt politician to seize control. The U.S. even led the effort to expel the Shaw of Iran, which led to a radical Muslim government who opposes the United States to this very day. Apparently, not all CIA covert operations worked out as they expected. The Cold War was not a physical confrontation between Washington and Moscow, but every nation was a battleground.
The Cold War technically ends when the wall between East and West Berlin falls on November 9, 1989. The amazing event marked the beginning of the end for the oppressive Soviet Union, which fell December 29, 1991, but ushered in a new government with more independence which eventually became known as the Russian Federation.
The United States went so far as to claim they won the Cold War. But did they? Did America just win the Cold War? Yes and No. Yes, the Soviet Union did collapse because their economy could no longer support 20% of its GDP being funneled to military initiatives. But their focus to increase their military power, to compete with the U.S., allowed them to increase their nuclear arsenal to more than 40,000 weapons in the decade of the 1980s. In only 40 years since the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima the number of nuclear weapons in the world quickly grew to approximately 60,000 to 70,000 devices! The Cold War was the catalyst for increasing the number of nuclear devices in the world, thus increasing the possibility of World War III and a possible human extinction event (ref. Matthew 24:22).
It is true that fewer nuclear weapons exist today than in the mid-eighties, but a total of nine nations (Russia, United States, China, France, United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea) have nuclear capabilities today with a total count sitting around 13,000 warheads. But do not believe for a second that fewer nuclear weapons mean we are safe. Thirteen thousand nuclear devices can still lead our world to the brink of a human extinction event.
Although the Cold War ended, the new Russian Federation rose from the ashes of the U.S.S.R. which still feeds into end time prophecy. The new Russian Federation may give its citizens more independence, but it by no means has abandoned its agenda to be perceived as a world power. The Cold War allowed Vladamir Putin to rise to power in 1999 and he has yet to relinquish his position. He firmly believes he can again restore the Russian Empire to its full glory, including reuniting the 15 satellite states with Moscow again. This ideology has led to the Russian invasion of Chechnya and more recently Ukraine. Three Baltic states have since joined NATO, so his dream of reuniting all previous satellite states in a new Russian Empire may not be fully realized, but he still has plans to reign in as many of the old republics as possible.
Though weakened, the world should not turn its back on the Russian Federation or Vladamir Putin and his dream of leading the new Russian Empire to playing a dominant role on the world stage. His ambition will eventually lead to the Russian Federation downfall when Russia (King of the North / ref. Ezekiel 38:1-4) will join forces with Muslim nations (King of the South / ref. Ezekiel 38:5-6) to launch a surprise attack against Israel (ref. Ezekiel 38:10-17). The initial attack against the Jewish state will be devastating. The Russian/Muslim alliance will swiftly march through the tiny nation from the north to the south leaving destruction and devastation in its path. But the Russian/Muslim alliance will make a strategic error when they decide to regroup all their forces in northern Israel. Israel will use this military blunder to launch a nuclear strike against the invaders and their homelands. The Israeli victory will be decisive and final (ref. Ezekiel 38:18-23). The two biggest threats to Israel will be eliminated!
China should not be overlooked as well. While the United States and the U.S.S.R. were distracted by the Cold War, China grew its economy and military into a power who is second to none and surely deserves a front row seat on the world stage. This is key because China (ref. King of the East / ref. Revelation 9:16) will lead a 200,000,000-man army into northern Israel to a battle we all know as Armageddon (Valley of Jehoshaphat / ref. Joel 3:1-3). China will play a major role in end time events.
The Cold War has shaped America. The United States has spent trillions of dollars on weapons to fight World War III. It has shaped American politics. It has shaped American diplomacy. It has shaped the American intelligence sector, and it has shaped how Americans think. But it has also shaped the world. Vladamir Putin has dreams of building a new Russian Empire. China is now a force to be reckoned with both economically and militarily. Nine nations currently have a nuclear arsenal. Other nations are close to joining this elite club. Any of these nations could launch a nuclear weapon in anger. In the wrong hands a thermonuclear war could begin at any time. How did we get here? Nuclear weapons today are 3000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima and in that short time the Cold War has not only changed the world, but it has also shortened the timeframe whereby the world, at any time, could launch a nuclear weapon in anger that could potentially lead to a human extinction event.
