remember 1989-90?

[Gabu]

is it just me or is the world now more dangerous than it was at any point during the cold war?

As htmldon said, I find the threat of having some lunatic fly a plane into a building to be, while still worrying, much less scary than the thought of, you know, global annihilation of the human race in a full-scale nuclear war.

[Gabu]

is it just me or is the world now more dangerous than it was at any point during the cold war?

As htmldon said, I find the threat of having some lunatic fly a plane into a building to be, while still worrying, much less scary than the thought of, you know, global annihilation of the human race in a full-scale nuclear war.

are you saying we dont have to worry about nuclear terrorism?

No, but even if something like that occurs, it still will not bring about the annihilation of the human race.  Is the world safe?  No, it never really has been, ever, in the history of Earth.  Is it currently safer than it was when the Soviets had a thousand nukes aimed at us and their finger one inch from the button?  I would say it is, yes.

[Gabu]

we also have a bigger problem with rogue states and weapons of mass destruction (ie north korea and iran).  those states arent held back by the prospect of mutual assured destruction, as the ussr was.

Why not?  The feral instinct of self-preservation is always present in humans, and both Kim Jong-Il and the guys in Iran know that if they launch a nuke at the US, their countries along with themselves will be wiped off the face of the planet.  Sure their personalities are not exactly conducive to a healthy diplomatic environment (to put it in a much more mild fashion than either of them deserve), but neither were Stalin's or Khruschev's, and they didn't launch nukes at the US the first chance they got.  I'm not saying that we should just sit idly by while they pursue their nuclear ambitions, but I'm not convinced that North Korea and Iran are a larger threat than the USSR was.  A threat, for sure, and one that must be closely monitored, but not on the scale of the USSR.

[Gabu]

I dont remember much when I was three I recall briefly times spent at a school daycare, and being babysat, and possibly sesame street. Unfortunately Kermit never went into detail about the fall of communism.

Most of what I remember involved those blue screens with the "This is only a test.  Had this been a real emergency...".  And boy, was I glad I never asked my parents what that was about.

[Gabu]

we also have a bigger problem with rogue states and weapons of mass destruction (ie north korea and iran).  those states arent held back by the prospect of mutual assured destruction, as the ussr was.

Why not?  The feral instinct of self-preservation is always present in humans, and both Kim Jong-Il and the guys in Iran know that if they launch a nuke at the US, their countries along with themselves will be wiped off the face of the planet.  Sure their personalities are not exactly conducive to a healthy diplomatic environment (to put it in a much more mild fashion than either of them deserve),

You are talking about Bush and Cheney, right?

I'll refrain from comment.