At the height of the late Cold War period, Andrew Cockburn wrote The Threat, a book that explored the bear cave of assumed Soviet military dominance. Challenging the narrative of Soviet supremacy—the belief that the Red Bear not only had greater numbers in their favor but also technological marvels that were capable of ensuring swift victory in time of war—Cockburn exposed myths that had been invented: a perceived supremacy that helped justify NATO, the Pentagon’s spending sprees, and a military-industrial complicated nation state that continues to grow long after the Berlin Wall fell and...