Defining the New World Order

Abstract

Let me begin by saying that before we look at security in what has become known as the post-Cold War world, we—the United States and Europe—made a very big mistake at the end of the Cold War by not celebrating the end of the war in the same manner that we marked the end of World War II. Because there were no shots fired, it did not seem appropriate to celebrate. But as you talk to people, on both sides of the Atlantic, there is no real sense of closure. Many people in the United States still compare what we do now in defense to the days of the Cold War because in many ways there was no clear break between the Cold War and this new era. Some see the situation in Bosnia and Kosova as a continuation of the conflicts we had in the Cold War, like Korea. They are markedly different. Without this sense of closure, the current security situation is more confusing than it needs to be.