“During the Cold War, Confrontation Between the Us and the Soviet Union Brought About International Conflicts on the One Hand, and Promoted International Cooperation on the Other.” Do You Agree?

To a full extent, I agree with the statement. Confrontation between the two superpowers led to a number of international conflicts; and at the same time promoted international cooperation.

The Cold War was the confrontation in political, economic, diplomatic and cultural aspects between the USA and the Soviet Union. As their ideologies were totally different from each other and were even contradictory, there had to be clashes between them when they tried to become the more dominant one by extending their influence to other countries. Some of these clashes had unfortunately turned into international conflicts.

First, Korean War was fought because the two sides tried to extend their influence to Asia. After WWII, the USSR set up a communist government in North Korea while an anti-communist government was set up with the support of the US. North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950. The United States and her allies, in the title of the UN, supported South Korea while China, allies of the Soviet Union, supported North Korea. By 1953, both sides could not break through and they ended the war with the 38th parallel as the truce line, meaning there was no change in their boundary. The war further intensified the tension between the two sides. More importantly, it showed that the confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union had escalated and it brought irrelevant parties into conflicts, turning their confrontation into physical fights among a number of nations.

Second, Yom Kippur War was another example of international conflicts brought about by their confrontation. Egypt and Syria, in the hope of getting back the land they had lost to Israel, attacked Israel during the Jewish religious festival of Yom Kippur in 1973. The problem was intensified when Israel got the military support from the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. sent weapons to her allies, Egypt and Syria.
It is true that the war was initiated because of the desire of the Arab countries to gain back their...