Suppose Rip Van Winkle had gone to sleep in the mid-1980s and woken last week to the news that the United States was updating its nuclear deterrence strategy to face the growing likelihood of a joint strike by Russia, China, and North Korea. How might our work-shy Dutch American react?

His first thought would surely be that little had changed. The West was still being threatened by communist expansionism. Authoritarian governments still resented open societies. There was still a global struggle between freedom and collectivism, a struggle that might lead to nuclear catastrophe if it got out of hand.