Strange fruit and a
sprinkling of abbreviations
I am the product of the
cold war. I was conceived, born, brought up and, questionably, grew
up during that forty plus years of confrontation. This was a time
when the West faced up to the East and the East faced up to the West.
It was a time of
suspicion, propaganda and espionage, a time for Smiley's People - One
recent rainy Sunday afternoon (and way into the evening) I re-watched
all seven hours of that 1980's classic TV mini-series based on the le
Carré novel of the same name, breaking only to pop more popping corn
and refill my glass, but I digress.
During the 50's,
60's,70's and to some extent the 80's we in the west were constantly
warned of the threat from the communist east, particularly the
military, and subversive threat emanating from the then USSR. This
was generally referred to as the 'Red Menace'. This term may or may
not have come from a 1949 anti-communist and anti-Soviet film titled
(you guessed it) The Red Menace.
Last Christmas, in one
of my more contemplative moments it came to me that twenty or more
years on from the breakup of the USSR the source of the red menace
has flipped hemispheres and now comes from the one remaining super
power!
I refer dear reader to
the USA, yes that's right, the United States of America...
