As a German born in 1985 I find the US far scarier in retrospect than the Soviet Union. For the Soviets, as for Europeans, it was very obvious that a nuclear wa

As a German born in 1985 I find the US far scarier in retrospect than the Soviet Union. For the Soviets, as for Europeans, it was very obvious that a nuclear war would in any case result in massive numbers of deaths locally. Even if they magically weren't hit, attacking Europe would have lethal consequences. A lot of the historical "near misses" involved carelessness by the US or the US-led NATO. Plus the general attitude towards atomic technologies was far more unquestioningly positive in the US than in Europe.