Cold War

is a western-centric fiction that renders invisible various local, hot wars while initiating and perpetuating their existence and proliferation.

the cold war is a Western-centric fiction that renders invisible various local, hot wars while initiating and perpetuating their existence and proliferation.

is an erroneous term for global conflict in that, amidst a large number of global conflicts, to call it 'cold' is to privilege only a limited range of subjectivities and relegates all others to insignificance.

Hammond contends that the Cold War is 'an erroneous term for global conflict,' for to claim that the international conflict was 'cold' is to '[partake] in the same hegemonic Euro-Americanism that defined the conflict itself, privileging a limited range of subjectivities and relegating all others ot insignificance.'

is, for Japanese, marked by a remilitarization policy adopted by the occupation forces and the Japanese ruling class.

For Japan, Arase argued, the Cold War meant first 'the remilitarization policy adopted by the Occupation forces and the Japanese ruling class'... more broadly, it denoted 'the impetus of the major intellectual events in both ideological camps' McCarhyism on the one hand, and challenges to Soviet hegemony within the socialist camp on the other

Japan

is not something that is won by the reagan military buildup but ended when a new generation of soviet leaders realized how badly their policies at home and abroad.

Garthoff argues that the Cold War was not won by the Reagan military buildup but ended when a new generation of Soviet leaders realized how badly their policies at home and abroad

is often thought of as being played out in europe. Instead, the u.S. And the USSR intervened in ways that would shape latin America, the middle east, sub-saharan africa, and southern asia, regions mostly to their detriment for decades to come.

Arne Westad's The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times (2005) is valuable. Placing contemporary world affairs in the context of history, Westad argues that the Cold War was far from being merely a conflict between the U.S. and the Soviet Union played out on the stage of Europe, with a few incidental repercussions in the Third World. Instead, the war's most important aspects 'were neither military nor strategic, nor Europe-centered, but connected to political and social development in the Third World' (p. 396). Westad concentrates on events in the 1970s and 1980s, showing how in Latin America, the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southern Asia, the U.S. and the USSR intervened in ways that would shape these regions mostly to their detriment for decades to come.

is a war that was semiotic, meaning that it was being transformed into a strategy aimed at indicating the field of possibility opened up by conflict, a virtual arena in which to demonstrate one's determination and intentions to the other, that is, 'making known that, in the event of [ . . . ] one is able to [ . . . ] and one has the firm intention to.

THe Cold War itself became one great scenario. The novelty factor of the period was so heightened that conflict scholars such as General Lucien Poirier and General Pierre Joxe defined the Cold War as a 'semiotic war', also using the expression 'strategic gesticulating to define it.' Joxe explained that war was being transformed into a strategy aimed at indicating the field of possibility opened up by conflict, a virtual arena in which to demonstrate one's determination and intentions to the Other, that is, 'making known that, in the event of [ . . . ] one is able to [ . . . ] and one has the firm intention to [ . . . ]' (Joxe 1983: 24).

is a war that was a simple battle between freedom and oppression, a struggle between the United States' 'shining city on a hill' and the Soviet's 'evil empire'.

For Reagan the Cold War was a simple battle between freedom and oppression, a struggle between the United States' 'Shining City on a Hill' and the Soviet's 'Evil Empire.' His famous disdain for large government along with promises to bolster the military led to simultaneous tax cuts and exponential growth in military spending and the national debt. He ordered a direct intervention against Communist forces in Grenada and funded anti-communist governments and guerillas in several Central American countries. Reagan also proposed a Strategic Defense Initiative, labeled by its critics 'Star Wars.' The Initiative, in direct violation of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, would have placed nuclear weapons in space to protect the United States from nuclear attack.

is a war that was essentially a confrontation along North-South lines rather than East-West.

For Chomsky, the cold war was essentially a confrontation along North-South lines rather than East-West. In this 500-year war of conquest against colonized peoples, anarchism or left communism rarely played a prominent role. But this does not prevent Chomsky from identifying with those in struggle, whatever their ideology.

cold war, n.Definitions

cold war