N.Y. Times upfront: Cold War
Read in N.Y. Times upfront magazine the two Cold War articles and answer the questions below:
1948: The Berlin Airlift (pages 24-27):
1. What countries were behind the "Iron Curtain" after World War II?
2. How did the Soviet Union, under its dictator, Joseph Stalin, turn the term "Iron Curtain" from a metaphor into a reality in June 1948?
3. Why did the United States decide to economically re-build Germany, its enemy in World War II and what did the article mean when it said that, as a result, "[f]ood and fuel, rather than bombs, became a Cold War weapon?" (end of page page 25)
4. For what reasons did the Soviets view American presence in Berlin as a "thorn" in the side?
5. How did the crisis begin in 1948?
6. How did President Truman respond to the Soviets closing the traffic into Berlin?
7. Why did the Soviets (and East Germans) construct a wall through the heart of Berlin in 1961?
8. How did the wall come down in 1989?
9. When did Germany unify into one democratic country?
10. What recent incident in eastern Europe provided an "eerie reminder" of the Cold War? (end of the article)
"A New Cold War?" (pages 6-7)
1. When the Soviet Union collapsed 17 years ago, how much of the country abandoned the old union?
2. Why, after years of weakness, is Russia becoming more powerful again, although no longer Communist?
3. What does the United States government (and Georgian President Saakashvili) view as the reason for Russia's invasion of Georgia?
4. What positions did both Barack Obama and John McCain take on the invasion?