An important milestone.

Very quietly now a significant anniversary comes upon us.


What makes it all the more interesting to me is to contemplate what it means. You see, we are almost at the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. This means there is a generation of Americans today to whom the Cold War is a distant memory.

If anything was emblematic of the Nuclear Arms Race it was the Berlin Wall. The prevalent feeling among us all at the time of two nations locked in a death struggle that might be triggered at any moment leading to the end of the species. It wasn’t something people thought about every waking minute but it was something that overshadowed all events on the world stage.

It was like watching a boxing match between two great fighters that neither fighter could win.

Nobody could even believe it would ever end and if it did end, the consensus was it would end badly for everyone involved. It would end with the proverbial bang and not the whimper and we would all be poorer for it.

When the moment came and it actually did end, no one could have imagined the speed at which events would move. The Berlin Wall was the symbol of the Cold War and when it ‘came down’ it was the symbol of the Cold War‘s end.

I just find it amazing there is a group of young people coming of age today who never knew those times as intimately as those of us who lived through it. Click through on the image above to be taken to the Wikipedia entry on the Berlin Wall. It’s really worth reading.

I think we have forgotten how dangerous these weapons are and it’s something we should think about when there are nations who we would consider to be more radical and less stable seeking to obtain the capability to add nuclear weapons to their arsenals.