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Wouldn't it be great for the US and the USSR if most of the cold war was fake?

Both sides get a great boogie man to denounce. Save a bunch of money on arms if they're mostly fake. Once you learn about the Van Allen Belt, you call over on the red phone and say hey guys, we know we can't send people, but think about the ratings? Maybe we send you a case of Pepsi and we're good?

What if large wars are coordinated by the rulers of opposing sides with the purpose of killing off as many of their own young men as possible - thus reducing the threat of an uprising?

Now the whole idea of a fake cold war is burrowing into my brain.

And then, of course, there's the Massive Rocket Problem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6MOnehCOUw

It's disappointingly difficult to get a positive case for what happened from deniers, that attempts to explain these things. Very eager to tell you what didn't happen, though.