Let me put in my two euros....
Yes, the Soviet Union was all that is alleged. But was it a *danger* to the United States? It could have destroyed the world, granted, at the price of its own existence. But could it have conquered the world? Did the 'domino theory' have any validity at all? Wasn't the fact that the Soviets were outclassed from the beginning? And were maintained as The Enemy by elements in the American Government to ensure their own budgets and careers. (The CIA constantly overestimated Soviet capabilities and reported Soviet statistics, bloated by bureaucratic misreporting, as fact.)
And sometimes it seems that the American Military-Industrial Complex *needs* there to be An Enemy to define itself. Look at how popular entertainment has focussed on Islam as the Upcoming Enemy since the demolition of the Berlin Wall.
And no, I don't actually see the situation being as simple as this. There are clearly sane and rational people involved in America's government and industry (those who said 'don't confront the Soviets: contain the Soviets' get my vote) as well loons (those who think that tiny off-shore islands are threats because they don't vote Republican for instance) . But to those of us who don't have to believe in US Manifest Destiny there are clearly elements of irrationality in American defence postures.
Obligatory Gloranthan bit: Ummmm. Can't think of one... Unless you look
at the Kingdom Of War but that is clearly designed to be a Real threat.
As Borges remarked the advantage of human-created artificial worlds is
that they can make sense to humans.
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Michael Cule
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