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How ridiculous! I'm 28 and I remember the 1980s bit of the Cold War most distinctly. Maybe Nick Robinson has no memories before the age of 10 or something, and assumes that no one else does either. But even then...

Would I still be a pacifist without the Cold War? Probably, given my upbringing. I wouldn't necessarily be quite so passionate about the need for global nuclear disarmament, and for leaders to have sufficient empathy to predict intelligently their enemies' likely reactions to things. Which few of them seemed to have then, and fewer now.

Other than Osama Bin Laden, if he counts as a leader. Given that I'm fairly certain he predicted Bush's likely reaction to 9/11 with extreme accuracy, and intended to achieve precisely that response.

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Maybe it depends on how political your parents were. I didn't start getting really interested in politics and news till I was 11 or so - which was 1991 - and I don't think many kids under that age actively seek out political news, particularly international news/foreign policy. But, if your parents are interested in that kind of thing, they will talk about it and you will ask questions. Had my father not talked to me about the Cold War, I think I would have even fewer memories of it than I do already.

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*nods* Yes, I think you're right.

My parents are very political, and my brother and sister and I were brought up such. It did often feel like we were the only anti-war, left-wing family in the whole of Hitchin! (Although of course we weren't.)

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We were the only anti-war, left-wing family in the whole of Hitchin!

I think there's a song here that's asking to be written.. !

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You're from Hitchin too and you share a ton of friends with me? why haven't we ever run into one another somewhere?

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Eeee! I don't know. :-)

Which school did you go to? I went to Priory, from '89 to '96.

Also intrigued that you went to the University of Hertfordshire, especially in that particular department. I don't suppose you ever met Mr A.J. Compton while there did you...?

Might have to friend you, if that's okay.

Oh, and I used to live just down the road from the Angel's Reply (in Lancaster Avenue). Never went there though, at least as far as I remember.

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Given that I'm fairly certain he predicted Bush's likely reaction to 9/11 with extreme accuracy, and intended to achieve precisely that response.

If you mean George Bush personally then I don't think the dates support that interpretation; apparently Bin Laden approved the attacks in early 1999, and Bush was only elected in November 2000.

I'm not sure that OBL's motives fit either: as I understand it his primary goal at the time was US troops out of Saudi Arabia, whereas what actually happened was invasions of additional majority-Muslim countries. (Granted the US is having a lot of trouble in Iraq and he's probably experiencing considerable schadenfreude as a result.)

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Although most US troops have been withdrawn from Saudi Arabia.

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Indeed, and there's a certain irony in that...

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Matthew's Journal

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October