The threat of imminent nuclear apocalypse doesn't seem quite as high as it did during the Cold War, when Mutually Assured Destruction appeared to be right around the corner almost constantly, and if you didn't have the forethought to hide beneath your school desk when the bombs dropped you would be atomised within seconds. Nothing's really changed, though. The USSR collapsed, as did the Berlin Wall, but tensions between Russia and the rest of the world remain fraught. Meanwhile, the proliferation of nuclear weapons means that even more countries wield them than ever before, and could choose to detonate whenever somebody p*sses them off. In fact, 2010 documentary Countdown To Zero argues the likelihood of nuclear weapons has actually increased since the end of the Cold War thanks to terrorism, nuclear proliferation, theft of nuclear materials and weapons, and more. Just wait for the next Cuban Missile Crisis, and maybe this time those involved will be even more trigger-happy.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
