Response to In-Class Cold War Simulation

What struck me the most after our in-class simulation of the Cold War was how both superpowers used essentially all other countries available to provide the means to an end. For example, a neutral country (such as Mexico) could become influenced by either superpower if that country would provide that specific superpower with a strategic advantage. While the actions of the superpowers in our in-class simulation were not particularly historically accurate in terms of which countries became involved in the Cold War, I think that the superpowers definitely took advantage of the fact that they were superpowers and used that power to persuade and influence other countries. 

In my opinion, the Soviet Union's implementation of the Warsaw Pact was a demonstration of such manipulation of power. While the Warsaw Pact is technically an agreement between the Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and East Germany, it seems to me as if the members of the Warsaw Pact didn't really have a choice--the Soviet Union was a powerful, threatening force. Thus, in agreeing to the Warsaw Pact, those other countries gain the "support" of the Soviet Union, however, those other countries probably didn't have much choice--they couldn't exactly just reject the Soviet Union. While the Warsaw Pact wasn't necessarily an active invasion or imposition of influence, that same influence was still implied through such a pact.

The influence of the rivalry between the superpowers was ultimately the unwilling (or maybe superficial) alliance formed between other countries and the superpowers. Since the US and the Soviet Union were two of the strongest countries in the world, they essentially had control or influence over whatever  country they wanted. Such involvement of other countries was temperamental--able to change depending on whether or not the superpower needed that country for a particular reason.