Mark Poynter

The New Cold War Mark Poynter

The New Cold War is an extended (18,000 word) essay examining the effects and consequences that increased military competition and preparedness would have on US-Soviet relations from 1979-1988. When President Reagan entered office in 1981 he set out an ambitious military programme designed to "roll-back" the Soviet Union and re-establish the U. S. as a world leading superpower. Reagan's foreign policy was set on a strongly held ideological belief of renewed antagonism with the USSR characteristic to that of 1950's anti-communism. In maintaining that the Russians were intent on achieving world domination by any means possible, Reagan described the Soviet Union as being "the focus of evil in the modern world". The Reagan administration's anti-Soviet rhetoric combined with its reckless talk of limited nuclear war signified a shift in U. S. policy from maintaining a nuclear deterrent to preparing for a nuclear conflict. In residing over the largest peacetime re-armament programme in U. S. history, Reagan's military build-up would include a new generation of strategic weapons. With intense military competition and fears of a first-strike, the New Cold War was characterised by an increased emphasis on the likelihood of war and the need for preparation against a possible Soviet attack.