“The meme at the time was that we would lose the Cold War or that it would end only with a nuclear exchange.”
I have told my kids more than once how unbelievable it is that there is not the constant threat of all-out nuclear war today. It was just a given growing up. Not to say that Obama might pick at that scab over Syria however.
There was a non-trivial chance of the USSR taking over the world, or that its attempts to do so would end only in WWIII. Doesn’t anybody remember the claims that only our disarmament could avert Armageddon?
I seriously doubt Russia or China will launch a nuclear exchange out of pique that Syria gets cruise missiled.
I also think it is stupid for us to constantly be poking our nose into ME affairs. Doing so has led to the situation today in Egypt where ALL sides despise us. And for good reason.