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Week 10: The End of the Cold War, and Nuclear Weapons
in a New World Order
Week 10 Study Guide
Terms:
Manichean George Schultz Ideology Boris Yeltsin Tiananmen Square Massacre George H. W. Bush Solidarity Dirty Bomb Glasnost Al Qaeda Perestroika Post-Atomic Culture START Osama bin Laden
Questions to ponder:
- Why did the Cold War End? Who was primarily responsible for its closure? Historian John Lewis Gaddis (formerly of Ohio University) has argued that the Cold War was “A Long Peace.” Do you agree? Why or why not?
- How has atomic culture changed after the Cold War? (think uses of radioactivity in popular culture, for example)
- Has the global nuclear threat increased or decreased after the end of the Cold War?
Reagan heads to Moscow for 4th Summit with Gorbachev
- Nods off at Moscow State University; Gobry prods him and wakes him up.
- When asked on the streets of Moscow if The Soviet Union was still the “evil empire” he replies, no “that was another time, another era.”
- At speech under giant Lenin statue Reagan endorses US family, faith, and expresses hope that FREEDOM…will arise in Moscow, and that new openness will continue.
China and Tiananmen Square
In 1976, Mao Zedong and several other leading Communists in China die
- Deng Xiaoping rises from the ashes of his political career and takes over China
-Deng charts a more moderate course; purges most Maoists from the government
- Deng begins a series of economic reforms
-A gradual move away from Communism as an economic system, without an abandonment of one party rule by the Communist Party
- At the same time, Deng and the CCP try to shut down any political discussion or dissent; China's use of the secret police is maintained and even expanded
However, the Party has had a hard time separating
economic liberalization and political change
Trade brings new ideas, new images, new art forms, etc.; allows Western newspapers, people, ideas, etc. to creep into China
In April 1988 a series of demonstrations began in Tiananmen Square in Beijing
Student demonstrators begin to hold rallies demanding democracy, free press, etc.
By May 1989 there are thousands of students living in a tent city in Tiananmen Square
They build a Goddess of Democracy
The United States and other Western Countries officially support the fight for democracy, but/and they continue to extend most-favored nation status to the Chinese to avoid disrupting trade.
III. The opening of Eastern Europe
In Romania, the dictator Nikolai Ceausescu, wanted to put down demonstrations with brutal force, but the Army decided that the regime could not be saved, and refused to fight the people.
In Poland, Solidarity won International Support
The Wall Comes Down
Finally, in 1991, Soviet Hard Liners arrest Gorbachev;
Russian president Boris Yeltsin heads the resistance
In 1991, the Soviet Union disbands The Cold War, as we know it, is over
Today’s existing nuclear arsenals are still on hair-trigger alert and are within the capabilities of ONE MAN (or woman) for nuclear nations
27,000 nuclear weapons in 9 states
96% in US and Russia
REGIONAL ARMS RACES
- We’ve seen it with India and Pakistan
- now North Korea has the bomb; will that spark more nukes in the region?
- Arguably, Iran poses the most serious threat
- 50 nations have weapons useable uranium
EXISTING NUCLEAR ARSENALS
A good read on the subject
Current nations with nuclear stockpiles:
Russia – 16,000 USA – 10,
France – 348
UK – 200 China – 200
Israel – 135
India – 100 Pakistan – 85
North Korea - 5
Chinese ICBMs
NUCLEAR TERRORISM
- the single most serious threat that you face today.
Dealing with nations, with diplomacy, non-proliferation treaties, etc… these are tried and true methods; rational actors with discernable factors of interest.
When dealing with terrorists, this becomes extremely difficult
Most terrorist groups have political aims—usually regime change—and nuclear weapons do not help them achieve this end.
Therefore, the serious threat comes from fanatic terrorist groups.
Their aims are not political
Fanaticism is dangerous
ISLAM IS NOT
“Duke: Nuclear Winter.” Note the icy mushroom
cloud in the background and the demonic snowman.
Is Fallout 3 acceptable as fun because it no longer seems
plausible?
An admittedly partisan, but very current allusion to nuclear winter.
