THANK you for this opportunity to expand on one of my past letters, captioned ‘Deceptions and more deceptions by Asquith Rose’, as published in the Guyana Chronicle of March 30, 2011. In that letter, I was replying to Asquith Rose’s letter in the Kaieteur News of March 29, 2011.
From his letter, it was abundantly clear that Asquith Rose lacked any real understanding of the Cold War. His primary school explanation of the subject demanded a response that offered a more accurate description of the events of this crucial juncture in world history. Editor, let us hope that Asquith Rose pays attention.

The Cold War was not merely an ideological battle between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, as Asquith Rose would mislead the Guyanese public into believing.

He obviously has limited knowledge of the Cold War. The Cold War represented an end to a history of mutual hostility between these two parties, and by extension, their respective allies. Outlining the events of World War I and World War II would help readers to better understand that the U.S. secured her traditional western allies during these periods, especially during the First World War.

Great Britain and France’s alliance with the U.S. put these powers at odds with the Soviet Union, who, by the 1930s, had already aligned with Nazi Germany after the two established their non-aggression pact.

The Treaty of Versailles, which was delegated and constructed by America and her Western allies after World War I, confirmed Germany’s war guilt and condemned her actions in World War I.

Germany was blamed for that war and was ordered to pay for the cost of war damages, which included making reparations. Consequently, Germany’s economy was ravaged by hyper-inflation. The situation became so dire, that it took an entire wheel barrow of money to buy a single loaf of bread.

Germany and her allies were convinced that this was unfair and willful on the part of the ‘Triple alliance’, and were determined to avenge this. Japan, another communist state, was also publicly outraged about the Versailles verdict imposed upon Germany by the ‘Triple Alliance’; hence, the inevitability of World War II in 1939.

Notwithstanding Germany’s invasion of Russia in 1941, the U.S.’s response to this was standoffish; they provided only minimal assistance to the Soviets, as protecting the Soviet Union was not at all in U.S. national interest.

Their only concern was that Germany was never again, militarily able to wage war on countries that fostered U.S. imperial interests. The U.S. only entered World War II days after the Japanese Bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Mr. Editor, as I write this letter, I can only hope that Asquith Rose grasps the clear understanding that the Cold War was not merely an ideological battle between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, but that many other variables were at play during this time.

According to Jerry Kloby, Professor, Montclair State University, New Jersey, and author of ‘Inequality Power and Development, The Task of Political Sociology’, the Cold War brought an end to the old world order, which “consisted of much more than Soviet-U.S. dichotomy”, it transformed world politics, and established a new world order.

There was nothing ideological about the Cold War. The potential use of nuclear warfare to annihilate the enemy was very real and very frightening for all Cold War actors!

The entire twentieth century was characterized by the U.S. arrogantly imposing its will on other countries.

In fact, this century is well thought of as the ‘American Century’, with post World War II being referred to as ‘Pax Americana’, putting into context, the reach and grasp of the U.S.’s military might, industrialization and science in international affairs.
All of the academics mentioned in my previous letter, Noam Chomsky, Professor Jerry Kloby, and Professor Chalmers Johnson, openly declared that U.S. imperial dominance is not the line that the U.S. should be taking.

Nonetheless, until Obama’s ascension to office, U.S. imperial dominance remained the defining feature of U.S. foreign policy formulation. Noam Chomsky clearly stated, “The cold war framework was scarcely more than a pretext to conceal the standard refusal to tolerate third world refusal.”

While the Cold War sprung from the series of world events which followed the First World War, it cannot be overstated that it was a very real war, the implications of which would have been felt by the entire world, a thousand times over.

The Cold War was the event in history, where the other international powers, lead by the Soviet Union, said ‘no’ to U.S. imperial dominance of the world.

These countries were prepared to go to the extreme of employing nuclear warfare, to end U.S. world domination. Nevertheless, the U.S. was so adamant and arrogant in fulfilling her “manifest destiny”, that she opted out of the war on the very brink of that war, only because the Soviet’s matched America’s nuclear capability, and this meant that America and her allies, like the Soviets and theirs, would have been completely obliterated in the process!

As I said before, “The nature of the Cold War, i.e., the threat of nuclear warfare, etc., could have escalated into an international crisis that would have toppled the existing status-quo, and reshaped international relations forever.”

This was not in America’s interests. Thankfully, good diplomacy ultimately prevailed; this kept the Cold War ‘cold’.

Mr. Editor, I do hope that after reading this letter, Asquith Rose finally develops an understanding of the Cold War.