When the alert came across my phone yesterday… “Biden announces sweeping new sanctions against Russia”… I had memories of childhood in Paris, Texas during the Cold War.
The Cold War. That period of time after World War II. From 1947 until 1991 when the Soviet Union ended.
If you grew up during that period of time, you lived in a bit of fear. The Soviets had nukes. We had nukes. Who was going to use them first? Obviously, them. Not us.
And what would happen if they did? I really remember having safety drills at school where we would crawl under our desks. Like that was going to help. “Duck and Cover,” it was called. Did we really believe it was going to do anything? I guess we did.
I also remember fallout shelters. That’s where we were supposed to go to avoid the radioactive fallout from a nuclear explosion. A fallout shelter was supposed to shield us. There was one at the courthouse and one at the hospital.
I can see that sign now. Yellow and black. Those three upside down triangles inside a circle.
I remember a kid I grew up with had a fallout shelter. His family had built one. I was so jealous. I asked my dad if we could have one. He said it wouldn’t help. Dad was always right. I wonder what happened to that fallout shelter?
I’m not really concerned about a nuclear war with Russia anymore. Others, maybe. Not Russia, though.
What President Biden did yesterday was put Russia and Vladimir Putin on notice. New economic sanctions.
President Biden blames Russia for hacking into American agencies and companies.
The New York Times reports that President Biden could have been tougher.
“I chose to be proportionate,” President Biden said. “The United States is not looking to kick off a cycle of escalation and conflict with Russia. We want a stable, predictable relationship.”
The president also hopes to meet with Putin this summer in Europe.
Like I said, this is not another Cold War. At least I hope not. I don’t want to have to practice “Duck and Cover” under my anchor desk.