What has been termed as "the long peace" by some has proven to be the most intense time period in world history. A historical rarity, two superpowers fought rigorously across the globe for support, each carving out their own sphere of influence. The bi-polar of international affairs resulted in an arms buildup between the United States and the Soviet Union; including weapons that exceeded the atomic bomb, then the most effective and destructive weapon in price and devastation. Yet, to everyone's surprise, the Cold War abruptly ended in 1990 with the collapse of the Soviet Union under its own economic weakness, its political conflict, and military farce. A decade later, we ask: Who can claim victory for the Cold War, if anyone? Could America, the champion of capitalism and democracy, the state that still stands tall as the present states of the former Soviet Union remain in economic and political turmoil? Could the Soviet Union, who for nearly half a century, successfully checked the power of the United States, and attained its own quadrant of loyalty from Eastern Europe? For approximately 45 years, the two forces brought the globe into its tension, making the prospect

The Soviet Union, plagued with economic instability and political conflict, watched idly as Eastern Europe, their sphere of influence, began to change. Poland, in a popular election, voted in Solidarity, a union of workers, and voted out Jaruselski, the Soviet appointed leader, who had outlawed Solidarity. Czechoslovakia, in yet another popular election, elected Vaclav Havel, a playwright and political dissident, to the executive office. To this day, the states carved outfrom the former Soviet Union: Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Ukraine, fail to capture the prestige and power of the Soviet empire in the 1920's.

The Cold War, ignited by post WWII tensions, heightened to near nuclear Armageddon following the Cuban Missile Crisis, and consisted of flexible tensions and a massive arms race. Never was a formal declaration of war announced; rather it remained a war of words, a clash of ideologies, a quest for world hegemony in which the other superpower constantly played the role as hindrance. In order to give such a question its proper justice, we must first explore the world near the end and directly following the second world war, the landscape, which in fact, birthed the Cold War.

Who can claim victory for the Cold War, if anyone? Maybe the United States for it still stands economically stable and as intact as in 1945. Maybe the Soviet Union, for their successful opposition to the United States for approximately 45 years. Maybe no one. Both the United States and the Soviet Union have enjoyed a greater amount of markets since 1990, but unfortunately they each face their own turmoil, away from each other. The Soviet Union (Russia) still suffers from economic ailments brought about by its transition to capitalism, and the United States presently suffers from a security complex, which allowed the events of September 11 to take place. The Cold War, though over for an entire decade, still sends shockwaves throughout the international order, still affecting the relations and actions of the two powers that dominated the

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