Keyword: cold war

Ukraine: The Clash of Partnerships

Picture: U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin courtesy Wikimedia Commons. John Feffer - The Cold War is history. For those growing up today, the Cold War is as distant in time as World War II was for those came of age in the 1970s. In both cases, empires collapsed and maps were redrawn. Repugnant ideologies were laid bare and then laid to rest, though patches of nostalgia persist. Surely the Cold War has been consigned to the textbooks as irrevocably as the Battle of the Bulge. The Berlin Wall is in pieces. The U.S. president speaks of the abolition of nuclear weapons. The...

Gore Vidal on the Cold War

Picture: warincontext.org Video Known for his sharp wit, legendary American author and playwright Gore Vidal, a critical commentator on American politics known to speak truth to power, died on Tuesday, 31 July 2012 aged 86. In his later years, Vidal brought context to our latter-day understanding of where we are in the world today with his deep first hand knowledge of historical fact. In this fascinating interview with the Real News Network he provides extremely valuable insights into how the Cold War started. For more...

Not Even Obama Can Take On Special Interests

Feminist writer Naomi Wolf discusses the ethical challenges President Barack Obama faces in dealing with special interest groups representing intelligence, surveillance and the defense industry. "I trust his intentions are good, but he's playing with fire," she says. Wolf argues that what's needed is a massive grassroots- based democracy movement to hold Obama and the American Congress' feet to the fire to keep the pressure on so that reforms are not superficial. She contends that...