awesome post!
No, you have not been to war with us Canadians for 202 years. And you are not likely to, as we are the only nation on earth who successfully repelled an American invasion. We are really sorry about burning down the Capital and Mr. Jefferson's new White House. You can have some free maple syrup since that comes from Ontario and we have oil which you have to pay for because of our carbon taxes.
No, the US no more won the cold war than they won WWII, despite the propaganda of 3,107 John Wayne movies. There was that small matter in Poland you may recall that required the Kremlin to be "invited" to send tanks to kill some Polish people who responded by refusing to work or sell food to soldiers. Lech Walensa and Solidarity, the docks shut down and and a crumbling economy. It cost the Russians so much to be there they could not afford to pay their soldiers, who, if they wanted to eat, had to be nice to Poles. I was a journalist guest of Solidarity at that time, it was astonishing to see women spit at Russian soldiers, they particularly liked giving them trhe finger.
It was what, a year later the Berlin Wall came down while similar unpaid soldiers stood by gaping like morons. You may recall that that wall coming down was a complete surprise to the CIA who it is now claimed "Won" the cold war.
The cold war would not have ended had it not been for a Roman Catholic Priest who admired Ronald Reagan who became the Priest of Rome who shamed the priests of Poland for their silence about Russian attrocities and who defied the Kremlin's warning not to interfere. His name was Karol Józef Wojtyła, or to non Poles Pope John Paul the second.
It was later, much later that Ronald Reagan issued the famous line: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!", which is you really want to know was written by a Canadian.
I ask of Obama's defenders to name one war in which the US was a clear victor in a necessary war..
In closing there was one conflict which the US, with the help of Kaiser Wilhelm did solve without military force, although Canadian/British marines stood off against Americans:
The only casualty was a pig. Even then I think we were growing BC Bud