I dont think of it as a perfect win obviously because of the proxy wars like Vietnam and Korea. Those wars specifically gave me a bucket full of nice medals but cost me every single one of my uncles. There were other proxy wars though.

Anyway my point is 2 fold.

Arguably that strategy prevented a much bloodier war between Russia and the US but there were still better ways to handle that without any war.

And 2) if you ignore the proxy wars the "cold war" approach is one way to avoid war, I guess. The government equivalent of the obnoxious drunk guy flexing his muscles and saying "you don't want none of this bro"... It's better than a war but not my favorite strategy. Although I might not like that approach it did prevent a war, it was better than a war.... So... Good job?

Again the proxy wars ruin that but they were unnecessary and didn't change much for the US or Russia. Obviously they did a lot of damage to the countries we fought in. My point is the cold war approach didn't need that to prevent the war. It actually pushed us closer.

I'm just saying the "I've got a bigger gun" diplomacy... Well it's definitely a strategy that is better than war...