No argument, the USSR was bad, and some good came of our policies, but the propaganda was still propaganda. We weren’t in Europe only to protect Western Europe. We were/are there and other places primarily to keep wars “over there.” That and ensuring beneficial trade agreements are the main reasons to have an empire.
The difference, as (quote?) observed, is that the US isn’t willing to trade Philidelphia for Paris in a nuclear exchange, so we back down considerably at the threat of an ICBM. That would bring a war too close to home.
