:: MY LIFE AS A COLD WAR KID, 1962 to 2022 ::

This piece was started shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. From my childhood, I remembered reading stories about people trying to escape East Berlin, the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, "The Iron Curtain", and "Soviet Satellite" countries. Mad Magazine's "Spy Vs. Spy" cartoon, the TV cartoon "Rocky and Bullwinkle" whose arch rivals were Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale further indoctrinated us that the USSR was America's biggest enemy. The 1980s brought "Star Wars", the red phone used for ordering "Mutually Assured Destruction", the liberation of Eastern European countries, and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Countless movies have portrayed Russia as our enemy. And today: Russia is suddenly our ally and trying to re-take Ukraine.