The Soviet block as a whole was a military match for NATO and the rest of the European powers combined. Factor in China and NK (back when they weren't in the stone age) and they were a match for our allies in Asia as well. To top it all off, the Russians were actually able to compete with us in intelligence gathering, submarine design, weapons design, aircraft design, space exploration, computer science, and nuclear design. The Russians did put nuclear missiles in Cuba, and Kruschev did threaten to destroy the US (pounding his shoe on the podium and all).
The Islamic nations and groups we have a problem with now are granted, far crazier and far more violent in what they seek on a daily basis. They are also completely willing to die themselves in order to get their goals. And a few of them do want a global Islamic Caliphate. I'd say they are a threat. But on the other hand they are pretty laughable when it comes to their actual military and their ability to design weapons and the sciences.
The Soviets were evil geniuses. The enemies now are bat shit crazy but they aren't exactly all that bright.
No need for a history lesson, I am a history major.
The context was communist in America, not foreign communist. There hasn't been a real threat America faced internally from communist or the communist party.
Lastly the Soviet Union were rarely a true threat to American citizens, most of it was perceived threats. Your example of of the Cuban Missile Crisis is pretty bias. For instance
1) Khrushchev contemplated why couldn't the Soviet puts nuclear weapons in Cuba, when the U.S did the same in Italy and in Turkey. It was only fair after all.
2) It was a form of brinkmanship, a political tool that both the U.S and the Soviets employed often to get a better ground.
3) The nuke was used as a deterrent of U.S aggression in Cuba. Take note the Bay of Pigs, Operation Mongoose and Operation Ortsac. Ironically Castro was not a communist and hated both the Soviets and the U.S for what he viewed as colonial imperialist powers, but had to choose the Soviets due to U.S hostilities. This point is further proven as one of the result of the crisis, that the U.S pledge to never invade Cuba.
Overall there is plenty of sources that shows that the Soviets had no intention of starting war or direct confrontation with the U.S especially after the Cuban Missile Crisis. You can see this in the way Stalin tippy-toed diplomatic matters, the way Khrushchev handled the crisis and detente, detente and how Brezhnev had several meetings with Nixon to discuss co-existence.
If anything it was China that was the aggressor to the U.S up until Nixon's diplomatic visit to China. Because Mao did not care about nuclear war because he said there were millions of Chinese to replace them.
In the case of the Middle East, that whole problem is largely centered around Isreal. And because of that, there will forever be conflict and hatred.
