The influence of the Cold War still looms large. Whenever modern Russia flexes its muscles in the West's face, the comparison is obvious. There remain many physical reminders, too. Airfields, and parts of the landscape, were transformed. Reminders of the potential for confrontation between East and West were everywhere, not that anyone around during the period's most uncertain days could ever have forgotten. At this distance, it can be difficult - especially for those of us whose Cold War recollections span only the dying days of Europe's Communist regimes - fully to appreciate the tension generated by events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the world seemed but a few steps from an all-out nuclear exchange.
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