Who'd Have Thought (back in 1984)?

[Raellus]

Times have really changed. Back in the mid-to-late 1980s, it seemed like the only way that the Cold War would end was in nuclear Armageddon (worst case) or, in the best case, a Red Storm Rising type conventional war scenario that would see NATO triumphant. As it turned out, the end was a lot less spectacular (thank heaven). Subsequently, for a little over a decade, it seemed like the West no longer had anything to fear from Russia.

And now here were are, in the midst of a new, even more complicated Cold War. Several former SSRs are now NATO members. Several former SSRs, and former Warsaw Pact members, now belong to NATO. Poland, the original setting of T2k, is a full NATO member that has just concluded a deal to purchase one of the USA's most advanced conventional weapons systems, the F-35 (check out the cool promo pics in the linked article).

https://www.twz.com/air/polands-firs...ter-rolled-out

Even perennially neutral Sweden is now a NATO member.

Today Russia, rather than the USSR, plays the role of NATO's major antagonist. Its government is yet again a one-party state led by an anti-democratic dictator. During the Cold War, a Soviet attack on Free Europe was a major fear, one that the USA's government and military-industrial complex were dedicated to preventing (or stopping, should deterrence fail). Two-and-a-half years ago, Russia launched an unprovoked invasion of its democratic neighbor, former SSR, Ukraine.

In the USA, the once markedly more hawkish-on-Russia political party is now more sympathetic to the oppressive, imperialistic Russian government than to its fellow democracies, so much so that many American office-holders (and candidates) wish to stop aiding Ukraine, thereby appeasing the Russian dictator. In 1984, this would have been unthinkable, except perhaps in a Superfriends episode featuring Bizzarro World. It's still hard to believe that this is the way things are now.

What else would the inhabitants of 1984 be shocked to learn about the present day?

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