no worries
if the Soviet Army hadn't been wrecked in the race for Berlin, Stalin probably would have set it against the Allies...and if Truman hadn't proved he had the cojones ot use the bomb
Defeating Communism...well they were never "communists" to begin with (long issue not really important, communism never exists outside of say, a kibbutz size. Lenin was an arrogant putz)
and it's ended in a very very Pyrrhic Victory, and one about to go nuclear in our face

regardless of how *we* in the West see ourselves, the Russian see us as something very different and absolutely do not trust us, and for good reason (we broke a LOT of treaties and agreements made after the end of the USSR, the media doesn't often like ot point that out)
so current leaderships in our nations *suck*, and the Russian military etc are seriously very worried they are going to be attacked
note who's allies we invaded and/or wrecked in last 20+ years...now imagine if Russia had turned Canada and Mexico into the likes of Iraq and Syria...yeah America would be MONDO P' off and with good reason...*same thing*
again, doesn't matter what we think, it's what THEY think. Hence the building of the Russian cobalt bombs...ick :/
without the likes of JFK or Churchill, we don't have leaders with backbone or brains to fix things.
Individuals are the key, like Teddy Roosevelt. Conservative, but great man (says the guy who's a Lefty lol), a great leader, however
recent leaders...have left a lot to be desired to put it mildly. and that goes for British ones too...omg...
"Fifty Shades of Pork"! 
anyway there's been a great deal of good work by many individuals, problem is, the power hungry gits who pull strings
most folk don't know it was NOT "America" that won the conflict, but guy named Gorbachev who refused to go to war etc and then made deal with the West to modernize Russia and create a lot of very mutual beneficial and thus stabilizing relationships...and he got stabbed in the back....so we ended up with current Russian leadership. Gorbachev is a Communist, but believe it or not, a very moderate and decent man. Screwing him over was a
very bad idea. You don't have to agree with someone's politics or religion to trust and work with them.
anyone who thinks you "win" conflicts like that...uh...no
you can come out of it without your cities being left as craters and THAT is a "victory" condition
nobody LOST, this is good thing
note as usual, the spooks just migrate over...KGB goes out FSB etc comes in...meh, that is real life, sigh
thought
one part of why Rome fell was the later Roman butthole leaders agreed to let Goths in as settlers, then screwed them over, breaking treaties...the Goths rebelled and that's part of why ROme fell...as was the rich and powerful buying the Senate to make sure the rich and powerful didn't have ot pay taxes.
without taxes...legions, roads, navy, ports etc crumbled (lefty but hey we DO need large but properly supplied and USED military: no corporate or committee boondoggles like the F35 aircraft or the SA80 rifle, or wars that just do us and EVERYONE harm like Iraq and Afghanistan. Our Empire may have sucked but it *built* things, now, we're just smash and grab thieves.)
Same thing today as was for Rome, we're setting things up for a fall :/
Both America and the British Empire got wrecked for years in WW1 and 2, because of lousy leadership, corruption etc in the years beforehand. Took UK 3 damn years to actually get a freakin CLUE

I get very angry at all this modern revisionist crap saying "
Oh how good the wars were and we did good!" horse crap, huge numbers died because of wilful ignorance, corruption etc.
see the unbelievable idiocy of British losing Singapore or MacArthur's twaddle in the Philippines, sigh.
or UK's Air Ministry *refusing* to allow development of dive bombers after Americans proved they were the
only bomber worth a hoot (which was true until about 1943, except for specific tasks/types like torpedoes or "gardening")
and American navy/yard/bureaucrats etc and the "torpedo scandal"
etc etc
we could have done VASTLY better both wars. Lions lead by inbred chinless jackasses
ugly truth is secret US policy was to break the British Empire economically during both wars, despite Roosevelt (teddy) warning the Royal Navy was the best damn money American never needed to spend.
usual crap powerful folk get up to same as British did to America early on, but long term conse
as another example WW1, US marines were BANNED form using the British Lewis Gun, which was much better than the garbage Chachat gun they got issued with...because of corrupt kickbacks etc in the military bureaucracy
Chauvinistic stupidity prevented American army/Marines getting the British/Czech Bren gun which was much better than the BAR
and the British aircraft brass turned down using the American .50 browning which was much better than the .303 machine guns in our aircraft
you know, "
Our gun is better than your gun, neener neener!"
meh :/
hope I'm not boring ya?
