The End of the Cold WarThe war on poverty has just begun and interest in the environment is but a budding concept. But there has been at least one monumental societal accomplishment. Many have called the end of the Cold War as the most significant step to preserve civilization. Who was responsible for affecting this magnificent victory?
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (founded by a group of Manhattan Project scientists in 1945) created the Doomsday Clock in 1947 to draw attention to the potential for nuclear Armageddon. In the 61 years, the time has only been reset on 17 occasions. In 1947 it was initially placed at 7 minutes to midnight, clearly meaning that in the span of 24 hours, or 1440 minutes, we were then close to the end of civilization.
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Today it is at 5 minutes to midnight, thus, the situation is supposedly worse. It was set to 2 minutes in 1953 when both the U.S. and the Soviet Union exploded Hydrogen Bombs, jumped as high as 12 minutes in 1963 when the U.S. and S.U. signed the Partial Test Ban Treaty (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty--SALT I), but with several ups and downs, re-set to 3 minutes in 1984 when our two countries upgraded our Cold War posturing. The time did not change when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. Doomsday jumped to 17 minutes in 1991 when the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty was signed. One would think, anyhow, that the world is now a far, far safer place, for Pakistan, India, the Middle East and North Korea do not evoke terminal fear or threat of MAD, mutually assured destruction. Yes, there are still sufficient nuclear weapons potentially ready to be reactivated to cause some mischief, but the politics of the times are such that I think the clock should be reversed, to at least 15 minutes, if not one hour. (Aside from the global economy and environment, we are in great shape.)
The clock was at 9 minutes in the Fall of 1979, which was not a good time for the American Nation. I arrived in the U.S. Senate. Well, that was the best part. Earlier in the year, China had invaded Vietnam, the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster occurred not that far from the national capitol, the YMCA sued the Village People over their song of the same name and the second oil crisis with those interminable gasoline lines made life tedious. Just around then, the USA hockey team was being selected by their coach, Herb Brooks, the Iranian crisis happened, with 66 Americans held hostage in Teheran, followed the next month by the Soviets occupying Afghanistan. National pride was at an all time low and we felt powerless, when a miracle came to pass. For the record, I treat miracles in Chapter 5 of Book 2 on the Golden Evolution.
Early in 1980, the USA ice hockey Olympic victory accomplished by a bunch of college students over the supremely dominant Soviet team, triggered a return of will to the American people, embarrassed by the Vietnam War and weakened by the Iranian hostage crisis. This indelible moment in all of U.S. sports history, it is said, inspired President Ronald Reagan to, two years later, confront the Evil Empire (Ronald Reagan, to the British House of Commons, June 8, 1982). Actually, Republicans and Reagan historians like to try to forget this, but the real Evil Empire Speech was given on March 8, 1983, to the Annual Convention of the National Association of Evangelicals (yikes!) near Disney World in Florida. Anyway, Coach Herb Brooks, who was the last cut on the 1960 American ice hockey team (which went on to win the gold medal in Squaw Valley that year--less than 200 miles from where I was then attending college), had this vision, delivered, and, perhaps, aided in ending the Cold War. In my estimation, this was the most crucial triumph for humanity ever, yet.
Maybe one other person set the stage for the end of the Cold War: Charlie Wilson. Charles Nesbitt Wilson went to Annapolis and graduated 8th from the bottom (better than John McCain, who was 894th out of 899), going on to an assignment in the Pentagon analyzing the Soviet Union. A state legislator at the age of 27, he later served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 12 terms, and was known as “Good Time Charlie” for being an alcoholic womanizer. However, as a member of the subcommittee overseeing the Central Intelligence Agency, he single-handedly influenced the diversion of largely black (covert, secret) military funds to help the local patriots fight the Russians in Afghanistan, resulting in their ignominious retreat in 1981, the year Ronald Reagan first became president. You might have seen the movie: Charlie Wilson’s War, starring Tom Hanks and directed by Mike Nichols. Houston socialite Joanne Herring played by Julia Roberts, and Gust Avrakotos, the rogue CIA agent, by Philip Seymour Hoffman, might share some of the credit.
American actor Ronald Reagan played the most important role of his life as the 40th president of the USA, and is sometimes credited with ending the Cold War, as his purposeful confrontational defense budget beginning in 1981, particularly Star Wars, fundamentally terrified the Soviet Union into overspending on defense, leading to effective bankruptcy. But, should Edward Teller, who convinced Reagan about this strategy, be the hero? Or one of his staff members I earlier talked about at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory? It had to start somewhere, and inevitably this would be at some primary, if not lower, staff level. Remember, presidents, governors and legislators almost never have the time to think out simple solutions. You have to do it for them. Charlie, though, as a real exception, after the initial influence, might have done most of it himself.
When Mikhail Gorbachev rose to power in 1985, his response to Reagan was glasnost (openness to public debate) and perestroika (restructuring) policies, followed by summit offers to reduce their nuclear arms stockpile. This initiative set the mechanism in motion for arms reduction, and also to the disestablishment of the Soviet Union. How he pulled this off without being sent to some far off Gulag site is a mystery to me. Cowed, inspired, whatever, Gorbachev in 1990 won the Nobel Peace Prize. Let's, thus, give credit to both Reagan and Gorvachev. Also, too, one wonders, who in Russia had the ear and mind of Gorbachev?
It is an exceptionally rare situation when the individual who gets credit actually came up with the idea. It is the leader’s position and prevailing circumstances that were essential, but someone else out there started it all. I credit Ronald and Mikhail for making the critical decisions regarding the Cold War, but nominate Herb, Charlie, the guys at LLNL, Claire and Kevin as my heroes for finding and delivering on these simple solutions for peace, poverty and Planet Earth. Thus, you, too, someday, could well join these unknown heros.
There are, of course, innumerable ways to undertake your personal mission. Former president Bill Clinton wrote Giving in 2007. The book goes into vivid detail about how each of us can change the world. He wrote that six year old McKenzie Steiner organized a beach cleanup club in San Diego. Yes, 6 years old. Who knows who she will be affecting or what she will do when she turns 7.
Now, go to the various web pages. Learn a little more about the ultimate matter of your greatest interest and begin to make a difference by coming up with just one simple solution. How best to get started? Reread this appendix. Or e-mail me at PTakahas@Hotmail.com. Together, with some dedicated others, we can help save Planet Earth and Humanity! Aloha, and have a great rest of your life.
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What a ride today. The Dow Jones Industrials initially fell almost 700 points to below 8000, then rose into the plus category, but ended minus 128 at 8451, slightly more than 40% below what it was a year ago. The speech by President Bush did not hurt, but did not help much, either. China stocks had their worst week on record, and are down by more than two-thirds over the past year. Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, and Europe all fell by more than 8% today. The Japan Nikkei 225 suffered its biggest one day drop in 21 years and the Indonesian stock market halted trading. Russia had recovered by almost 10 percent yesterday, but, interestingly enough, suspended trading today. The Russian stock exchanges had dropped 68% (about the same as China--our two, so called, challengers)since May before this recovery. In the meantime, crude oil dropped around 10% today to $77.70/barrel. To add to the confusion, gold also dropped today, minus $73/ounce to $851. An investor might want to look closer at silver as a holding opportunity.
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Hurricane Norbert, now at 103 MPH is weakening, and should cross the Baha Peninsula over the next 24 hours, maybe as a tropical storm. Tropical Storm Odile should just skirt southwest Mexico and head west. Now at 58 MPH, Odile seems destined to become a hurricane in a few days and move towards Hawaii.
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