All I can offer by way of experience is this. For what little it is worth. This post is not intended for the older more battle hardened cynics (like me) among us. It is for the benefit of the young folk here.
The cold war ended arguably in 1991, some say 1989. Doesn't really matter. In 91 I was 30 years old. So my teenage years were spent in the cold war era. In December 1979 I turned 18.
Have a quick browse through here...
Timeline of events in the Cold War - Wikipedia
This was the cold war.
You think it is tense now. Look at the above timelines of events, and try to imagine the spin the media put on this stuff to get headlines. It was a hell of a time to be a kid. It felt like every single day the news would say, US warships on alert of international waters outside Russia. Russian Jets do aggressive flyover US Aircraft carrier. US warns Russia to blah blah blah. It was bloody awful, and a terrifying time to be a kid.
Here on AE we have some really smart people, way way smarter than me, and very aware of world affairs. Nivek, Casual, Castle, August... Super smart folks. They will often post some pretty scary stuff about our world today.
But it is you young folks I worry most about. Who do you listen too, how worried should you really be? I remember all too well lying in bed some nights in terror of what tomorrow might bring. Well here is my take on that. My Mum and Dad, the two wise rocks that kept me sane were both born in 1924. They lived through many tough times, depression, war and so on.
As a kid I would wake up so stressed about world events, it really started to effect me badly.
I went to my dad one day and talked to him about it. And whatever scary event was happening at the time.
And his response made me laugh, and helped settle me. He said something like this.
He said, OK, there is some scary stuff on TV these days. He said Half is Bullshit, Half of whats left is sensationalized to get ratings, Half of that has a political spin, and half of that the report doesn't know what he is talking about, and half of whats left is wrong because our governments will never let us know all the facts anyway. OK, things might turn to shit. But 99.9 times out of 100, the US and the USSR are like two dogs barking through a fence.
To look at them, you think they just want to utterly tear each other apart. But if you open the gate, all they do is sniff each others Bum and go about their business.
And here we are in 2018, still crapping ourselves at the headlines.
So my advice is this to you young folk here is this.
OK, we can't predict the future. But like Sting said in his song.
"I hope the Russians Love their children too"
Rest assured they do. So while it is possible that all hell might break loose between the world powers.
It is far more likely that you kids will be advising your own kids in 20 years to not worry.
It really really upsets me thinking how you young folk might be getting scared like I did.
So turn off the news, turn on your music, and don't worry. Just make sure that when you all grow up and become our world leaders you don't make the same mistakes your parents and grandparents did.
We are all fossils and belong in museums. It is your turn now.
But most of all, dont worry, be happy.
Bob got it right
Anyone standing up to Russia.
( Apologies for all my sarcasms here )