[maeln]

> but the cold war was a nice period of peace

Tell that to the Vietnamese, the Afghan, the Cuban, the korean, ... And arguably you might include a lot of eastern european country. Just because the confrontation didn't happen in the country that were "enemy" didn't mean they didn't cause wars.

[jack_riminton]

But you're not arguing against the implied alternative, ww3

[maeln]

There is another alternative : two country not being powerful enough that they can wage a proxy war by using less powerful country. The issue is not the military power, it is the imbalance.

[jack_riminton]

Do you think nuclear weapons avoided ww3?