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

At that moment in time, Stalin's Red Army was weak; Patton: "I understand the situation. Their (the Soviet) supply system is inadequate to maintain them in a serious action such as I could put to them. They have chickens in the coop and cattle on the hoof " that's their supply system. They could probably maintain themselves in the type of fighting I could give them for five days. After that it would make no difference how many million men they have, and if you wanted Moscow I could give it to you. "Right, the US didn't kidnap Einstein. Einstein chose the US which was smarter and wielded more power between the two. And there were a lot of Jews in Bolshevik Russia so is not a valid argument because it's not as if he'd be alone in Russia. [1]Getting on with the Cold War. .. "A shadow has fallen across the scenes so lately lighted by Allied victory. From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent. " In 1946 Churchill referred to the division of Europe, East and West, communist and capitalist. Next was the Korean War 1950-1953. From Communist Russia, northern Korea became a communist satellite state & in the south a capitalist state. It proved impossible to reunite the country. It was Russia fighting through North Korea against the US through South Korea. A Cold War of fighting each other without fighting one another raged. The Western Allies had not killed the way of the Communists when they could have (referencing Patton). The Korean War also revealed that China could emerge as a third super-power in 1949. Communism was spreading. Russia was buffering itself from the West. Khrushchev started a de-Stalinization process in 1956 and wanted also to reduce the Cold War tension between the superpowers this process was known as the "thaw". Yes, Russia attempted to be kinder & protect itself. [2]However in that same year Hungary wanted to break off from the Soviet Union and Khrushchev just couldn't allow that because it was part of its shield from the West. And the US chose not to go to Hungary's aid. The US protected the relations with the USSR rather than protect the weak. Eastern Europe could not trust either super-power. Subsequently, Hungary was assimilated back into the Communist fold with a new leader, Soviet style. So commences the stock-piling of weapons and the attitude of "I am better than you" emerges as well as more tensions between Russia & the US. One of the large black spots on the US was the U2 crisis where the US was caught spying on Russia, in Russia. [3]And the US had the bomb and developed ICBMs first. [4]The US maintained constant pressure in 1960, when a shoe-banging outburst was misconstrued as a nuclear threat. Khrushchev banged his shoe at the UN, stating "We will bury you. " All one has to do is check out the Communist Manifest (only 25pgs) & it was interpreted incorrectly (though translated correctly), as Khrushchev admitted later a reference their Manifesto, true to Communist ilk; Chapter 1 of the Communist Manifesto: "What the bourgeoisie therefore produces, above all, are its own grave-diggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable. " Khrushchev repeated this Marxist thesis at a meeting with journalists in the US in September 1959. [5] However, many Americans falsely interpreted the quote as a nuclear threat. And Sting wrote a lovely song which only hyper-sensationalized the perceived threats. [6] Pro can claim that was a clever cover-up attempt, but the problem is that NOW it makes sense and it is true to Communist form in their ideologies. We can now acknowledge that it was a over reaction by the US to construe that a nuclear attack. I'm no friend to Communism but the USA really went overboard in the fear-mongering propaganda department. The US had the upper hand in arranging the Cold War. Built 13Aug1961, the official purpose of Berlin Wall was to keep Western "fascists" from entering East Germany and undermining the socialist state. Pro claims it was the first "shot" fired in the Cold War but as one can plainly see there were plenty of "shots" fired prior to 1961. [7]The Iron Curtain tried to hide the decadence of the West. The US seduces with goods ("Come on over East Berlin, we have a variety of cookies. " - please note levity). Communism was indeed an obvious baddie but capitalism was the one controlling much of the economics behind the scene of the Cold War with cloak and dagger secrets, defections, bribery and black markets booming. Fearful people threaten. Russia was fearful of the smarter and greater threat; the US had already proved that they would drop nuclear bombs on a civilization. The US didn't need to brag since it had already done it. Facta non verba, deeds not words cinched that deal. Hindsight, IF Patton had crushed the Red Army in Moscow, and then the USA would NOT have had the Korea, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam or a Communist China to contend with because Communism would have been either obliterated and or at the very least, severely hampered before its inception. Granted, Marxism existed but Castro would not have looked to the USSR in their defense after the disastrous Bay of Pigs. [8]Pro contends that the US wasn't the aggressors, but the Communists. Why then was President Kennedy willing to start a thermo-nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis, instigated by a Marxist Castro? It was Russia who backed down. Therefore the USA is the most culpable of the Cold War and the wars aforementioned. I thank the reader and return the debate back to Pro.1. . http://www.einstein-website.de...2. . http://www.johndclare.net...3. . http://www.history.com...4. . http://www.britannica.com...5. . http://www.gutenberg.org...6. 7. . http://www.history.com...8. . http://www.britannica.com...