20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

[MadBurgerMaker]

I remember that.    

Do they still sell those little chunks of wall?  I think my dad has one somewhere from immediately afterward when everyone was cashing in on that shit.

Edit: They do, and they've gotten pricier (I think). 

[Warspite]

I don't remember the fall of the wall itself, though I was aware something was happening in Europe. I clearly remember the execution of Caesescu.

[Valmy]

On a personal note it sure makes me feel old to hear the interviews of germans in their teens and early twenties who really dont have much of an idea of how important this event was.

American kids to.  They consider 9/11 the most important event in history and to me that was nothing compared to the Cold War ending.

But if you never experienced the Cold War you sort of take its ending for granted and do not really appreciate how different the world was back then.  Nobody back in 1988 could have known the Soviet Union would not still be around in 2009.  I took a Russian History class and one of our books was "Mikhail Gorbachev, leading the Soviet Union into the 21st century" published in early 1989.

[Malthus]

What people who did not live through that era fail to realize is the fact that during the Cold War the potential for nuclear war was taken very seriously, and along with it the potential end of the world.

The "threat" posed by a bunch of medieval Islamicist fuckers hiding in caves in Tora Bora or wherever doesn't come even close to the same level of anxiety. 

[Crazy_Ivan80]

I wonder if people could have guessed that the new order would look like the old order in 1989.

I still remember seeing the images on TV back then but I could hardly grasp the momentousness of it all as I was only 9.

[Valmy]

I wonder if people could have guessed that the new order would look like the old order in 1989.

It looks like the old order?  I am not sure what you are getting at.

[Zanza]

I do remember how I went to "drüben" (col. for "the other side") the first time with my parents. I lived in Lübeck at the time, which is right on the former border. We parked on the Western side and crossed the death strip to a small village. It was all so drab and grey in that village.

[Caliga]

I do remember how I went to "drüben" (col. for "the other side") the first time with my parents. I lived in Lübeck at the time, which is right on the former border. We parked on the Western side and crossed the death strip to a small village. It was all so drab and grey in that village.

Cool, so East Germany was black and white, and West Germany was in brilliant Technicolor?  I think I saw that kinda thing in a movie once.

"Ach, mein hund Toto, ve ist not in Leipzig anymore!"

[grumbler]

Yeah, Nov. 9th '89 was a strange day for me, as well.  At that time i was knee-deep in the Submarine Security Program, designed to prevent the Bad Guys from ever detecting our boomers.  The lengths we went to seem quite fantastic these days, but the price of failure was potentially so high that any countermeasures seemed worthwhile.

Within months, the job we were doing became obviously redundant (even though it was still being funded) and I started my second masters degree, in education.  My timing was pretty good - I was given notice about a week before I would have give them notice!

[KRonn]

What people who did not live through that era fail to realize is the fact that during the Cold War the potential for nuclear war was taken very seriously, and along with it the potential end of the world.

The "threat" posed by a bunch of medieval Islamicist fuckers hiding in caves in Tora Bora or wherever doesn't come even close to the same level of anxiety.

Very true. I feared a nuclear war; didn't really expect since I felt the Soviets didn't want an end to the world either. But it was a real fear that events could cause it.

As for Islamic radicals. I have no doubt that if they could get hold of a nuke that they'd use it, try to find a way. That's quite scary as they aren't a nation and have no fear of nuclear retaliation, and they're fanatical enough to do the act. Or they'd at least try to use nuclear materials in a dirty bomb type attack.

[Razgovory]

Were they any good at detecting your submarines?

[Malthus]

What people who did not live through that era fail to realize is the fact that during the Cold War the potential for nuclear war was taken very seriously, and along with it the potential end of the world.

The "threat" posed by a bunch of medieval Islamicist fuckers hiding in caves in Tora Bora or wherever doesn't come even close to the same level of anxiety.

Very true. I feared a nuclear war; didn't really expect since I felt the Soviets didn't want an end to the world either. But it was a real fear that events could cause it.

As for Islamic radicals. I have no doubt that if they could get hold of a nuke that they'd use it, try to find a way. That's quite scary as they aren't a nation and have no fear of nuclear retaliation, and they're fanatical enough to do the act. Or they'd at least try to use nuclear materials in a dirty bomb type attack.

I have no doubt that they are capable of doing great damage, maybe even getting ahold of a nuke and using it.

What they are unlikely to do, is ever have the sort of world-ending capacity that an exchange between the USSR and the US would have had.

[Admiral Yi]

Anyone else ever do the duck and cover drill?  I think it went out of fashion in the 60s in the US, but we did it a little longer in Korea, being on the front lines as it were.

[KRonn]

What people who did not live through that era fail to realize is the fact that during the Cold War the potential for nuclear war was taken very seriously, and along with it the potential end of the world.

The "threat" posed by a bunch of medieval Islamicist fuckers hiding in caves in Tora Bora or wherever doesn't come even close to the same level of anxiety.

Very true. I feared a nuclear war; didn't really expect since I felt the Soviets didn't want an end to the world either. But it was a real fear that events could cause it.

As for Islamic radicals. I have no doubt that if they could get hold of a nuke that they'd use it, try to find a way. That's quite scary as they aren't a nation and have no fear of nuclear retaliation, and they're fanatical enough to do the act. Or they'd at least try to use nuclear materials in a dirty bomb type attack.

I have no doubt that they are capable of doing great damage, maybe even getting ahold of a nuke and using it.

What they are unlikely to do, is ever have the sort of world-ending capacity that an exchange between the USSR and the US would have had.

Agreed on that. 

[crazy canuck]

I do remember how I went to "drüben" (col. for "the other side") the first time with my parents. I lived in Lübeck at the time, which is right on the former border. We parked on the Western side and crossed the death strip to a small village. It was all so drab and grey in that village.

Cool, so East Germany was black and white, and West Germany was in brilliant Technicolor?  I think I saw that kinda thing in a movie once.

"Ach, mein hund Toto, ve ist not in Leipzig anymore!"

That was what it felt like.  I remember seeing a "band" play in a park in East Berlin.  It was a warm beautiful day and I was sitting in a cafe very close to where the band was playing.  The first thing that struck me was that the band was virtually motionless.  The were moving their hands to hit the right notes on their instruments but everything else about them was motionless.  The performed with a complete lack of any emotion.  Then it struck me that everyone around me (with the exception of some other western tourists) were also completely emotionless.