As the shadow of a second Cold War looms over the West following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Fox Nation’s “Modern Warriors” series delves into the Cold War of the past to capture the voices of those with stories to tell about one of the most pivotal episodes of world history.
In the series’ latest special, “Cold Warriors,” “Fox & Friends Weekend” co-host Pete Hegseth brings the stories of Cold War experts from Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum in Cape May, New Jersey to not only shed light on the dark history of a segment of the past, but to provide context for the modern world.
“We think of the end of the Cold War with the fall of the Iron Curtain and the dissolution of the USSR,” Hegseth said, addressing the panel. “Did the Cold War ever end?”
FILE – In this on Friday, June 12, 1987 file photo, U.S. President Ronald Reagan acknowledges the applause after speaking to an audience in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Beside Reagan are the President of the German Parliament Philipp Jenninger, left, and Germany’s Chancellor Helmut Kohl, right. The U.S. Embassy in Berlin is unveiling the statue of Ronald Reagan as a tribute to the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The larger-than-life statue is being installed Friday atop the embassy’s terrace, at eye-level with the landmark Brandenburg Gate in downtown Berlin. (AP PHOTO/Ira Schwartz, File)
Boston University professor & Honorary Consul General of the Czech Republic Igor Lukes chimed in first.
“I think it depends on how we define the Cold War,” he said, “The standard definition, of course, was that it was a competition between two national security apparatuses, each armed to their teeth and ready to go. It was a competition between two different interpretations of how human beings should exist.”
“So I think that we have certainly re-entered the Cold War of the national security kind, as evidenced by Putin’s illegal, brutal war on Ukraine.”
PETE HEGSETH: ‘MODERN WARRIORS’ REVEALS A ‘SIDE OF COMBAT YOU’VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE’
Former senior CIA officer & Chief of Station Fred Rustmann gave his take, saying he remembers the Cold War’s early days rife with messages of mutually assured destruction brought about by growing nuclear presence – messages that prompted children to take cover under their desks.
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“Now, what we have is, certainly, Putin trying to reestablish the Soviet Union. He’s a little bully,” he said, “Since the czars, every single Soviet Russian leader has been cut from the same cloth.”
“[Putin] really hasn’t left the Cold War. He hasn’t gotten over it yet, and he doesn’t intend to get over it,” U.S. Special Forces commander Gen. Michael S. Repass added. “What he wants to do is reestablish this Soviet Union, and he has gotten himself into a big quagmire right now, I think.”
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The episode dives into the mind of Russian propaganda artists – including former KGB agent and current Russian president Vladimir Putin – which Martha “Marti” Peterson spoke to as a Cold War spy:
“When we were in training to go to Moscow, we all laughed about the fact that KGB officers all believed they were 20 feet tall, which would mean, they were larger than life. There was some element of being in total control,” she said.
“In many ways, you see, that’s his mindset, that he believes he’s 20 feet tall, and that he can control whatever he sets out to,” Peterson added.
Peterson described the people who suffered under Soviet rule as powerless under tyrannical oppression.
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As for Putin’s current oppression, Lukes said he believes, though his power grip on Russia is currently strong, his reign of terror will not always last.
“He is a tyrannical leader,” he said, “And tyrannies may seem very strong one day, and they crumble the next day. And his army is crumbling.”
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