Recent developments regarding Russia have lead me to think the unthinkable. The Cold War never ended! It evolved into a newer 21st century version of the Cold War. The mainstream thought process was this, "The break-up of the Soviet Union equated to the downfall of communism. Well, since communism had fallen, and the Cold War was a war against communism then it stands to reason that the Cold War is over." We were flooded with pictures that supported this false conclusion like the fall of the Berlin Wall. I think I saw every single one of those little pieces of the Wall.

The problem is that all these assumptions, were then the basis of assertions, which then lead to broad based announcements. ALL were false. During the Cold War, for most of us, we remember the fear of nuclear war. The air raid drills, the duck and cover. All hype designed to make us all feel better. This way we did not have to live in fear. Many of us would rather live in a lie than live in fear. So all these duck and cover schemes helped us suppress our fear by pretending as though hiding under a small child's desk could help us survive a nuclear blast. The fear of being obliterated is not the way to go through life, while also building the strongest economy on the planet. Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) probably keep the US and Soviet Union from being the first to launch a nuclear strike. MAD, however,does not sit well in the minds of the American public. Now, at the impending dawn of a new millennium, we needed to develop a new way to eliminate the fear. The announcement came that the cold War is over. Now, no fear.

Nothing has scared me more in my lifetime than a recent statement from Boris Yeltsin. He said, to paraphrase, "President Clinton seems to have forgotten that we (Russia) still have a full arsenal of nuclear weapons." My god, he practically waived his finger over the "Button"! The only thing scarier than a country with a lot of power who is your direct adversary, is a country with a lot of power who feels as though they need to resort to desperate ploys and not-so-cleverly disguised threats to attempt to retain their power. In the so-called post Cold War, there is more disorder than ever. Nobody really knows their place anymore. Russian forces are pushing into the Chechen capital of Grozny. Russia and China are now official "pals". Just look at some of the recent headlines:

China Backs Russia Move on Chechnya (Associated Press) The United States, the European Community and many other nations are urging Russia to abandon its plan to intensely bombard Chechnya's capital, but there is no talk of sanctions or other measures if Moscow ignores their appeals. - Dec 07 11:57 AM EST

Yeltsin Flies to China for Support (Associated Press) Angry over criticism of Russia's war in Chechnya, President Boris Yeltsin is flying to China to get support for the campaign and to tell the United States to stop meddling in other nations' affairs. - Dec 07 6:35 PM EST

Does the date of these two reports ring any bells? China declared its support for Russia on the EXACT day in history, December 7th, that is the date of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor at 7:55 A.M., Hawaii Time.

To Summarize: 1) Boris Yeltsin is reminding the US that he has nukes. 2) China and Russia, the former with the preexisting ability to reach the US with nuclear warheads, and the latter with the "reported" brand new ability to do the same, declared that they are "friends". All on the same day Pearl Harbor was attacked. 3) Bill Clinton is "reported" to have taken money from the Chinese. 4) Under the Clinton administration it has been "reported" that we gave vital secrets to the Chinese, thereby damaging our national security.