Travis Danner
SPECIAL TO THE EXPRESS
So war again, then?
Well, the stage is certainly set for that. Russia has essentially invaded the country known as Ukraine, reigniting old tensions between the United States and the former Soviet Union.
Who doesn’t like a sequel? “The Cold War 2: Electric Boogaloo.”
Well, maybe it should be a remake instead, those are popular nowadays.
Just like Hollywood, the powers of the world seem to be out of ideas so instead of finding new things to do, they’ll just repackage the same old crap for a younger audience.
I mean really, who isn’t excited to live the Cold War all over again, what with the nuclear paranoia, chest-thumping patriotism and the ever-present possibility of mutually assured destruction?
For you kids who may or not be reading this, if you’re not quite sure what the Cold War was, I’ll direct you to go to your nearest video store… what’s that, you say? They don’t have those anymore?
Oh, well, get on Amazon or Netflix or something and watch the great documentary titled “Rocky IV.”
In it, two very oiled-up and steroid-addled boxers, one American and one Russian, beat the living snot out of each other for quite awhile. In the end, America wins, because USA’s number one, duh. It’s a beautifully constructed film that recreates in great detail the prolonged and nuanced mental and military battle between two of the biggest super powers the world has ever known.
You may be dismissing the relevance of “Rocky IV,” but you would be wrong. If this current crisis in Ukraine continues to its logical conclusion, the plot of the film is something the world can look forward to more of.
Punches will be thrown. Blood could be shed.
Let’s hope that’s not the case, let’s hope that in the end cooler heads will prevail. Let’s hope this crisis can be resolved peacefully and swiftly and no more lives will be lost.
Let’s hope the dominoes don’t start falling as a result of this conflict. Those dominoes are Russia, China, Iran, Syria, North Korea, etc.
Maybe that sounds alarmist or naive for me to start fretting over some kind of third World War, but that possibility has always been real since the end of the second. The world changed once the A-bomb dropped, and the nations of the world have been on a permanent war footing ever since.
We live in a world where hard feelings die hard and the scars of the World Wars past never fully healed. We may have had a few decades of peace with Russia, but the threat of that eroding has always been there. Some people may have forgotten just how bitter the feeling was between the two countries—those resentments linger and fester for some.
It may lead us into another conflict. It may not.
So far, we’ve been doing the right thing, being involved in the Ukraine only from afar. Here’s to hoping that approach will yield a peaceful solution and both countries can go back to their icy yet uneventful truce.
War again? Hopefully we can avoid another useless sequel.
