Was the Cold War a Deception?

The American Enterprise Institute's Hal Brands and investigative journalist Gareth Porter debate the necessity of the Cold War.

Was the Cold War a Deception?

Hal Brands and Gareth Porter debate the resolution, "The Cold War was a necessary response by the United States to a Soviet and Chinese threat to the global balance of power."

Hal Brands, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, defends the resolution. He has authored multiple books on the Cold War, including The Twilight Struggle: What the Cold War Teaches Us About Great-Power Rivalry Today.

Arguing against the resolution is Gareth Porter, an award-winning journalist and historian who authored The CIA Insider's Guide to the Iran Crisis: From CIA Coup to the Brink of War.

The debate is moderated by Soho Forum director Gene Epstein.

• Post production: John Osterhoudt

Comments

[Don't look at me! (I miss having inflation)]

Beats the shit out of a hot war.

[Marylandman, Battling for Truth Justice, and the American Way]

Right, because authoritarian Marxist regimes armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons are never a problem.

[Incunabulum]

That it might not have been *necessary* does not mean it's a deception.

[Marshal]

He's arguing it was a "deception" which resulted in the communist takeover of dozens of actual countries? I guess it shows there's no argument a leftist won't make to protect the team.

[sarcasmic]

Here’s something I bet you didn’t know. Ho Chi Minh asked the US for help in gaining independence from France. US said screw you France is our ally. So he got help from the commies instead. Take a guess at what that resulted in? If you said a communist takeover of a country you’d be correct! But why? Try giving it a thought or two before launching into your usual tirade about how I’m a hypocrite and I’m a leftist and listing off a bunch of things I supposedly believe before attacking those things with gusto. Por favor?

[Marshal]

Here’s something I bet you didn’t know

Wrong again, but you're used to that.

So he got help from the commies instead.

The framing here suggests he would not have approached "the commies" if we had agreed to support independence. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact he founded the Vietnamese Communist Party long before he asked for our support for their independence.

Take a guess at what that resulted in? If you said a communist takeover of a country you’d be correct!

Of course if we had agreed it would also have resulted in a communist takeover of the country and the resulting mass-murders. which sarc's criticism of our opposition shows he accepted.

Try giving it a thought or two

As usual sarc heard a couple of snippets from his talking points memo and concludes he must know more than everyone else since he literally new nothing to that point. It has never occurred to him that others could possibly develop knowledge outside his propaganda network. We're so far ahead of him he can't even see us which is the source of the saying "he's so far behind he thinks he's ahead."

I’m a hypocrite and I’m a leftist

While true the core problem is that you're an idiot. But they're not exactly independent variables since you have to be an idiot to be a leftist.

[Don't look at me! (I miss having inflation)]

Ooh! Look out! You might get “muted”.

[Nobartium]

Here’s something I bet you didn’t know

As the drunkard has devolved into copypasta, this is doubly retarded.