I believe that the Cold War was largely the responsibility of the Soviet Union.

Sorry mine isn't. 03Sept1939 GB was the one to declare war on Germany. Germany didn't want war with GB. [1] Russia had initially allied with Germany because Hitler didn't want Russia & France to ally (same technique Otto Von Bismarck used I believe). Germany later invaded Russia because he wanted the factories & raw materials for Germany. Addressing Pro's points: 1. I concur that Stalin was paranoid. Why do you think he routinely "cleaned up his friend's list"? a. The USA took all the brainiacs from Germany (Einstein was already in the US & helped developed the Atomic bomb). All Russia got were the geographical sites and work camps. The US pocketed a huge nest of German Nobel Prize winners (let's face, the Germans were smart guys) and had the upper-hand and thereby responsible for the Cold War. [2] Russia's turf had recently been torched & invaded. Of course Stalin was paranoid. Wartime propaganda rolled right into Cold War propaganda. Spy versus Spy. Germany had mad skills, cutting-edge aviation technology and the US got it. The whole US UFO craze started because the Germans had something like the Haunebu [3] aka flying saucers (don't ask me how I know this). What followed was a cornucopia of US ideas developed from comic book heroes like Superman, Captain America to Area 51 & the Space Race dawned. If I were Stalin, I might be paranoid too. 2. No contest with the strength and presence of the NKVD later the KGB, which was basically a government run mafia. Ruling through fear with Mokri Rabotat or Wet Work (mass killings) will keep any survivors in line but it does not foster patriotism and Russia's Cold War had countless defectors. 3. I WISH - "The US tried to show good faith in helping the Soviet Union during the Ukraine Famine" (forced famine of 1932-1933); Pro's cited reference does not illuminate such details. Sadly, there was NO help from the USA to the Kulaks, wealthy farmers during Stalin's genocide of them. Most of the foreign press corp yielded to the Soviet demand and either didn't cover the famine or wrote stories sympathetic to the official Soviet propaganda line that it didn't exist. Among those was Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Walter Duranty of the New York Times who sent one dispatch stating ". .. all talk of famine now is ridiculous. " [4] What is more evil, committing the atrocity or covering it up? The West clearly CHOSE to white wash and favor protecting the unleashed animal that was the USSR. The US is, again, responsible for driving that wedge between the West and the people in the USSR in the Cold War. The Holodomor is prior to the Cold War, though I understand that you must be laying the ground work. **I'm pleased you know about the Holodomor, as my father comes from the province with the largest grouping of Ukrainians outside of the Ukraine: the wheat fields of Saskatchewan, Canada** [5] 4. Yes, The US supplied the Soviet Union during WW2 because they were allies. Without FDR's Lend-Lease Agreement, Russia's supplies would have shriveled up. The Red Army was spread thin when it got into Berlin. Once again the US had the upper-hand & is the one that can giveth or can take away. The one that gives is stronger than the one that takes, always. 5. Speaking of giving, the US (& GB) GAVE AWAY half of Europe to suffer under Communism for the next half century when Patton could have squashed the Red Army! [6] So, sticking "to its agreements about land given to the Soviet Union at Potsdam"" at the Yalta Conference, FDR, in February 4-11, 1945 and Truman at Potsdam, Germany (17July-02August1945) is a weak argument to show the US being golden. WW2 was officially kicked off with the invasion of Poland by Germany and now Poland would be governed by the USSR. Not much changed for them. What is more wicked? The Allies would not allow Patton to beat the real enemy, Russia. More faults falls to the US. 5. Pearl Harbor is a debate by itself. The US didn't want war. FDR did. How does one cause a war yet look innocent? Cut off the oil supply to Japan. Have two other countries, in the area Dutch West Indies & British Trading Co (I believe) translate that the only co-ordinates that might fit the transmission intercepted is the newly moved naval fleet in Hawaii & ignore the warnings yet oddly move out your carriers. .. . (yes, Oahu - I was stationed there for 3 yrs to include holding down the port during 9/11/2001 when everyone there thought they were going to get bombed again). 6. On a drastic & sobering note, A German woman wrote: "Better to have a Russian on your belly, than an American on your head. " (Meaning better to be raped by the Soviets than have American pilots in the skies bombing your town like Dresden). [7] War seriously warps people. Greater responsibility lies with the US for the Cold War because even the German women didn't trust Americans over Soviets. 7. After a visit to ruined Berlin, Patton wrote his wife on July 21, 1945: "Berlin gave me the blues. We have destroyed what could have been a good race, and we are about to replace them with Mongolian savages. And all Europe will be communist. It's said that for the first week after they took it (Berlin), all women who ran were shot and those who did not were raped. I could have taken it (instead of the Soviets) had I been allowed. " [6] The problem that most people have with Patton is that he was RIGHT. Patton was awesome & he was assassinated. By 1950 Stalin's mental and physical health had begun to deteriorate and he was absent from the Kremlin, the government headquarters in Moscow, for long periods of time. His subordinates were fearful of becoming victims of Stalin's growing paranoia, which manifested itself in plans for another purge". .Really who does keeps killing their people like that? Oh leaders who have less control. [8] Okay, moving on, Stalin is dead, finally and Russia gets the Atomic bomb, August1953. I guess we'll really get to the Cold War in the next couple of rounds. Stay tuned for shoe-banging communication, "Antifascistischer Schutzwall," or "antifascist bulwark," against the West and Star Wars! I thank any reader and return the debate back to Pro. 1. . http://www.history.com... 2. . http://www.nobelprize.org... 3. . http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net... 4. . http://www.historyplace.com... 5. . http://www.catholiceducation.org... 6. . http://www.veteranstoday.com... 7. . http://natgeotv.com... 8. . http://www.pbs.org...