The center of the Cold War was Europe, and, by extension, the
North Atlantic, which latter geographical feature lent its name
to NATO. The Age of Atlanticism extended from Columbus’ voyage
in 1492 to the end of NATO’s relevance in 1991, or almost
exactly five hundred years. The Pacific was always a Cold War
backwater. After the US defeated Japanese sea power in the
Pacific, there was no force to rival US dominance of the
Pacific, even though the USSR had ports on the Pacific. This is
related to the fact that although the East was once Red, the
Cold War with China was always different from the Cold War with
the USSR. In fact, in the midst of the Cold War China and the
USSR fought a war, the Sino–Soviet border conflict of 1969 (like
many recent wars, it was not called a war), the underlined the
bitter divisions within the so-called “communist bloc.” Now
there is a power rising in the East — several of them, in fact —
and as the Atlantic-centered world order of the post-WWII era
passes into history, we enter int