What Might Have Been

If you're like me, you miss the Cold War. We knew exactly who the good guys were. We knew who the good guys were. It really was Us against Them, and even your hardened skeptics would have a tough time making a case for the repressive regimes behind the Iron Curtain. They had the dictators and the bread lines. We had the blue jeans, VCRs, and capitalism. Greed, for lack of a better word, was good.
Twenty years ago. That was back when we thought it would be a good idea to support the "freedom fighters" in Afghanistan. They were fighting against the Commies, so the enemy of our enemy was our friend. That made sense. Muslim factions from all over Asia rallied to their aid as well, and eventually the Mujahideen ran off the Soviet Army, not unlike those scruffy rebels in "Red Dawn." What could be more American than Patrick Swayze? Wolverines!
Of course, a splinter of that resistance did evolve into what we now know as the Taliban, and a lot of our money and CIA was given to a then little known son of a Saudi millionaire, Osama bin Laden. At least there was no more Soviet domination of that region. If there ever really was.
Meanwhile, back in Berlin, after years of taunting by Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev tore down that wall.
Democracy flourished. Wall Street continued to surge. Bon Jovi played in Moscow. Our president, Pinhead senior, was so untouchable that he was able to throw up on other world leaders on a dare. We were the most powerful nation in the world. Twenty years ago.