• it was never declaired, but it did have a few major conflicts. lets see, Koria and Vietnam were quite big conflicts from something that was just a bunch of huff and puff.

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    Kinda my point, Jermo.  The Cold War isn’t really over.  The only thing that is different is America has forgotten they’re at war and Russia surrendered.  We still have China, North Korea, Cuba, etc to deal with.


  • Well, most of you will think I’m crazy if I say this, but I enlisted in the United States Marine Corp instead of going to college which means I am crazy, so I’m gonna say it anyways.

    WW3 was declared many centuries ago, but it was not until September 11th 2001 that the western world finally realized that war had been declared upon them. Once they did realize this, they cowered and tried to appease their opponents, that is, all but one nation. The United States, led by president George Bush chose to fight back and launched offensives in Afghanistan and Iraq. Both offensives achieved minimal success however, because the leaders of the United States are unaware that there is only one way to achieve victory. The terrorist peoples that oppose the United States, however, have a clear idea of how to overcome the Behemoth, but they lack the means to do it, because they are continually thwarted by the men serving in the United States armed forces. Therefore, WW3 is currently at a stalemate. The United States does not know how to win, and Islam lacks the means to win. Eventually, however, I forsee a victory for Islam, because the warriors that keep them at bay today will not live forever, and the spineless fools that you and your spouses are producing will not be able to protect you from such a determined enemy.

    So in other words, you folks are all kind of screwed when all of us warriors are six feet under.  :lol:


  • @Pervavita:

    it was never declaired, but it did have a few major conflicts. lets see, Koria and Vietnam were quite big conflicts from something that was just a bunch of huff and puff.

    Korea = civil war
    Vietnam = civil war

    They were not related at all with the Cold War until other countries intervened, and even then that was a circumstantial backdrop to the original conflict.  They had a lot more to do with WW2, in fact.

    The term itself - “Cold War” - denotes that no open conflict ever occurred.

    @Cmdr:

    Kinda my point, Jermo.  The Cold War isn’t really over.  The only thing that is different is America has forgotten they’re at war and Russia surrendered.  We still have China, North Korea, Cuba, etc to deal with.

    Um…what exactly is your point?  I’ve heard you and others claim repeatedly that it was over, all to Reagan’s credit.  So is it, or isn’t it, Jen?


  • Cold War, meaning no conflicts were fought. Yeah theres the Vietnam, Korean, Afgan-Soviet wars, but those were between 1 large, and 1 small counrty. Regardless if the small one was being suported by a different big 1. The Cold War was not WWIII, if it was, it would’ve been calded that in our history books today. And yes the Cold War did end, with the colapse of the USSR. It’s just that Russia has decided to keep some of it’s nukes. If I were the newly formed Russia, I wouldn’t throw out and destroy my nucleur arms and be defensless. The fact is that we still have thousands of nukes, anyone of which could set off a war. WWIII has not happened, whats going on now is not a World War! Hell, were not even at war with a counrty, but a group of terorists that happen to be in a country. Saying were curently in WWIII, is like saying if long after VE/VJ-Day, we were having to deal with determened SS groups and saying WWII hadn’t ended!

    Cyan: Iran dosn’t come near Russia’s border, Kazakstan, ect are there now.

    What about Aulstralia!? lol

    Or mabye we’ll all just die when an asteroid the size of Texas hits us  :evil:


  • Koria and Vietnam, even the Afgan-USSR conflicts/wars were all part of a larger operation. the USSR or China were spreading and the US with allies support moved to stop the spread of Communism. just because there was no big battles between US/Allied troops and USSR/China troops dosn’t mean that it wasn’t a war (other then there were but history dosn’t play them up enough for the masses to even recongize them). nether force wanted to fully declare war in such a public display as that could lead to nukes getting used. it was a war and it invalved many of the countrys of the world. it’s just not called a “war” in the normal sence of the word because that would look bad to the political powers.

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    Those civil wars were caused by the Cold War though.  If there was no cold war, there would have been no strife and thus no conflict in which to fight a civil war.

    Just my opinion, of course.

    Anyway, M36; bear in mind you are not the only veteran on here who enlisted in a time of war nor the first to serve before going to college. :P

    Jennifer
    Specialist, US Army
    3rd ID, 1st Battalion, 64 Armored Regiment.

    Yea, that’s right, my kids can say “My Momma wore combat boots and kick your daddy’s butt down the street while eating a bagel and not even get any crumbs on her blouse while doing it!” :P

    And, for the record, we were there securing the zone before the Marines showed up.  But, gotta admit, it was fun having Marines there to chauffeur us along and open doors.  Make bad coffee though.  Good thing the Air Force was there! wink

    But I think that’s getting a wee bit off topic, nay?


    The terrorist war is WWIV.  One side cannot fight a war.  You have to have two sides, and now there are two sides.  I suspect the islamo-fascists are rather irked that Christians and Jews seem to be living the life Islam and Mohamed promised them.  While it is they who in fight amongst themselves and keep each other repressed.  So, like all cultures who are failing due to their own faults, they find some rich guy and blame him. (We do that as well, we always blame the rich, instead of realizing they pay for all our social services and keep our economy going.)  America and Israel are the rich guys in this case.


  • @Jermofoot:

    Psstt….the Cold War wasn’t a war.

    Actually it was.

    Beyond the Proxy Wars already mentioned (Vietnam and Korea) there were a LOT of other proxy wars fought…  Angola, Chile, Cuba, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, The Sinai, Berlin…  All of these engagements were conflicts of the larger World War 3.

    And there was direct confrontation too, not just via proxies.  Submarines fought and died under the waves due to direct enemy action, we reached DEFCON 2 in another direct challenge, “advisers” and “mercenaries” on both sides that were but “weren’t” active duty military…

    Desert Storm 1 may have had more shock and awe for television, but DS1 and DS2 still have not even begun to hit the casualty figures racked up during the Cold War… and at the current rate of loss it will take about 30 more years for it to get close.

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    My personal opinion?  Desert Storm was more a coups de grass of the Cold War then anything else.  If it was REALLY about stopping a dictator from destabilizing the region, we would have invaded Iraq in 1991, instead of waiting a whole extra decade and then sending our boys back to finish the job.

    As for the Cold War being over, I think that will happen when and if China becomes capitalist.  That’s my opinion anyway.


  • @Gewehr:

    Cyan: Iran dosn’t come near Russia’s border, Kazakstan, ect are there now.

    What about Aulstralia!? lol

    Or mabye we’ll all just die when an asteroid the size of Texas hits us  :evil:

    Australia wlil do what it and Canada, and arguably the US has always done: “God save the queen!”

    Azerbaijan separates Iran and Russia. This is not a very big country at all. also a boat or air trip in the Caspian sea also connect Russia and Iran. Russia has always had the idea of buffer states as an important part of its foreign policy. Russia is also a energy superpower and will want to have more and more control over the world;s energies supplies and won’t just tolerate the US gobble everything up.

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    Incorrect.  China is the other energy superpower and won’t let the US Gobble everything up.

    China is the reason we have to pay more at the pump, they’re importing fossil fuels faster then any other nation and burning them up in a very inefficient manner polluting the air for generations without regard for the well being of other nations.

    Meanwhile, the United States has been working on more efficient, cleaner methods of producing energy for well over 3 decades now starting back in the Days of Richard Nixon continuing through Reagan, Bush1, Clinton and Bush2.  Though, because we are Americans, the world will never give us the credit we are due and blame us for all their woes.  It’s the penalty you get for being on top.


  • @Cmdr:

    Incorrect.  China is the other energy superpower and won’t let the US Gobble everything up.

    China is the reason we have to pay more at the pump, they’re importing fossil fuels faster then any other nation and burning them up in a very inefficient manner polluting the air for generations without regard for the well being of other nations.

    Meanwhile, the United States has been working on more efficient, cleaner methods of producing energy for well over 3 decades now starting back in the Days of Richard Nixon continuing through Reagan, Bush1, Clinton and Bush2.  Though, because we are Americans, the world will never give us the credit we are due and blame us for all their woes.  It’s the penalty you get for being on top.

    I never said China wasn’t but would they risk a war with America? they have the pipeline from russia, all the oil in south east pacific and can gobble up all teh neglected places in the world. (like nigeria) also they are like the world’s leader producer of coal or something.


  • Well according to our commander-in-chief WWIII is apparently not avoidable unless Iran suspends it’s nuclear weapons program - a program which in fact Iran does not even have, according to all credible sources including our very own NIE.

    So apparently WWIII comes about once we have a world power leader so bent on ultimate control and dominance that they will no longer listen to the facts and reason of their advisers or the rest of the world.

    Are we there yet?  :roll:


  • shouldn’t be listening to the rest of the world IMO.
    also wern’t those the same sources that said they had the stuff and were discredited and we were told they were lieing to us before?


  • @Pervavita:

    Koria and Vietnam, even the Afgan-USSR conflicts/wars were all part of a larger operation. the USSR or China were spreading and the US with allies support moved to stop the spread of Communism. just because there was no big battles between US/Allied troops and USSR/China troops dosn’t mean that it wasn’t a war (other then there were but history dosn’t play them up enough for the masses to even recongize them). nether force wanted to fully declare war in such a public display as that could lead to nukes getting used. it was a war and it invalved many of the countrys of the world. it’s just not called a “war” in the normal sence of the word because that would look bad to the political powers.

    Korea & Vietnam were civil wars (and in some ways, antimperial conflicts) escalated, by other countries.  The core conflict was about areas that were trying to gain unified independence.  They were just carved up post WW2 by the victors who now were fighting against each other for superiority, fueling the initial grudge with their own desires.
    Afghanistan is probably closer to the Cold War, but again, no direct conflict with the key nations involved in that nonconflict.
    They were all definitely wars, but could only relatively be applied to the Cold War since you had 2 superpowers (and others) getting involved into any conflict that might help them.  But none of them ever did.

    The Cold War was more about world domination than stopping Communism anyway.  Stopping communism was just the excuse.

    Besides, we were originally arguing for/against the Cold War being WW3.  It was no where near the scope or depth of WW1 or WW2, even when you consider several isolated conflicts over the 50 year period, so my point is that it was not a World War.

    @Cmdr:

    Those civil wars were caused by the Cold War though.  If there was no cold war, there would have been no strife and thus no conflict in which to fight a civil war.

    Just my opinion, of course.

    Not going to comment on the rest just yet, but they were not caused by the Cold War.  As I said, they are easily attributed to the Cold War because of the involvement of the US, USSR, and possibly others, but they were simply Civil Wars.  These were countries looking from independence from everyone, and a unified homeland.  They’d been through occupation for sometime, even before WW2.  It was the time for self determination.  We just never saw that - we thought we were keeping the Russkies from controlling the world.  That’s why we couldn’t win Vietnam and why the Koreas are still separate today.

    @ncscswitch:

    Beyond the Proxy Wars already mentioned (Vietnam and Korea) there were a LOT of other proxy wars fought…  Angola, Chile, Cuba, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, The Sinai, Berlin…  All of these engagements were conflicts of the larger World War 3.

    I’m sorry, but I just don’t agree.  There were some limited conflicts that could be related easily to the Cold War, but example after example usually has a deeper conflict that sparked the situation in the first place.  And each of those examples you mention are too few and far between to be considered a World War.  They were tied together because of the 2 superpowers backing one side or the other, but it only served to extend the conflict.

    And there was direct confrontation too, not just via proxies.  Submarines fought and died under the waves due to direct enemy action, we reached DEFCON 2 in another direct challenge, “advisers” and “mercenaries” on both sides that were but “weren’t” active duty military…

    But do limited skirmishes amount to a World War?  And being prepared for war/nuclear launch is still not active battle.

    Desert Storm 1 may have had more shock and awe for television, but DS1 and DS2 still have not even begun to hit the casualty figures racked up during the Cold War… and at the current rate of loss it will take about 30 more years for it to get close.

    I only mentioned DS1 because I feel it is still a more legitimate “war” than the Cold War (although, to steal from Bill Hicks, it wasn’t even a war because war involves TWO armies).  The Cold War is a completely abstract interpretation of the period of power struggle between post-WW2 and late 80s/early 90s.

    @Cmdr:

    My personal opinion?  Desert Storm was more a coups de grass of the Cold War then anything else.  If it was REALLY about stopping a dictator from destabilizing the region, we would have invaded Iraq in 1991, instead of waiting a whole extra decade and then sending our boys back to finish the job.

    As for the Cold War being over, I think that will happen when and if China becomes capitalist.  That’s my opinion anyway.

    In this very post, you say that we ended the Cold War with DS1, but then say that it is still alive with China. 
    And what could Iraq possibly have to do with the Cold War after the USSR collapsed?  They weren’t even Communist!


  • Chosin Reservour in Korea saw a major conflict between US and Chines troops. i would say that meets your criteria of a conflict between powers.
    the war over all was world wide in scope, there were however no major German vs US conflicts. it was many theaters of one war over many years.


  • Too much time in between?

    It was multiple continuous conflicts spread over the entire 50 year time span and encompassed the globe.

    Just because you did not have 10,000,000 men in uniform in the field does NOT preclude it from being a world war.

  • 2007 AAR League

    indeed.  the USSR wanted world communism, its their goal and the goal on the comintern(communist international).

    they wouldnt let eastern europe govern itself after WWII.  thats huge.  that makes everyone wary.  then they beef up the military of USSR backed n.korea to let it invade s.korea.  it was a test to see if they can use surrogates to achieve their means.  our response told them no.

    they tried to influence takeovers in france, germany, spain, italy, latin america all by funding communist groups and communist parties.  by gaining these countries, they would find new allies in a war against america.

    see whats going on here.  they would have slowly isolated us into nothing.  choke of our foreign trade and resources and not have to fight to destroy us.

    they tried again in vietnam.  after the french got kicked out by the communist ho chi mihn, we went to protect the new nation of s.vietnam from the communist north, again backed by the USSR.  after the n.vietnamese takeover, due to democrats in congress (after a s.vietnames repulsion of a 2 million man northern invasion (bigger than barborosa) without any american ground troops) abondoning the country with no aid.  the communists spread into cambodia and laos.  thialand and burma resorted to military dictatorships to stop communism.  that happens alot.

    but it was a war i would imagine.  our spy agency’s were likewise surely at war with each other.

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    If you think I said that, Jermo, then you did not read what I wrote correctly.

    The United States used Desert Storm as the Coups de Grass for the Cold War.  But the Cold War did not end just because the Soviet Union collapsed and we were A) naive and B) hosing the deck with premature testosterone.

    Meanwhile, China was buying a president and buying intercontinental ballistic missile guidance systems from said president and getting the flood gates opened to purchase a large portion of our oil out of the Alaskan pipeline.

  • '19 Moderator

    @M36:

    Well, most of you will think I’m crazy if I say this, but I enlisted in the United States Marine Corp instead of going to college which means I am crazy, so I’m gonna say it anyways.

    WW3 was declared many centuries ago, but it was not until September 11th 2001 that the western world finally realized that war had been declared upon them. Once they did realize this, they cowered and tried to appease their opponents, that is, all but one nation. The United States, led by president George Bush chose to fight back and launched offensives in Afghanistan and Iraq. Both offensives achieved minimal success however, because the leaders of the United States are unaware that there is only one way to achieve victory. The terrorist peoples that oppose the United States, however, have a clear idea of how to overcome the Behemoth, but they lack the means to do it, because they are continually thwarted by the men serving in the United States armed forces. Therefore, WW3 is currently at a stalemate. The United States does not know how to win, and Islam lacks the means to win. Eventually, however, I forsee a victory for Islam, because the warriors that keep them at bay today will not live forever, and the spineless fools that you and your spouses are producing will not be able to protect you from such a determined enemy.

    So in other words, you folks are all kind of screwed when all of us warriors are six feet under.  :lol:

    I hate to entertain this off topic nonscence, but first of all I assume by this you figure to go home and raise up a couple “spineless fools” yourself?  M, don’t let the corp push what little remains of your natural reasoning ability out of your head.  It’s ok to use your own brain to create your own thoughts every once in awhile even if you have to do it by light of a flashlight under a blanket.

    Both of my oldest children have told me a number of times that they can’t wait to join the army when they get old enough, fortunately I have 10 years or so to get some sense into thier heads, slim chance though I supose my father is a vietnam vet, my grand father is a Korean vet, my great grand father is a WWI vet and his father fought against the Spanish.

    So, M, if you don’t know what your talking about, don’t.

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