It doesn’t work. It may not be have been US vs USSR but it was several proxy wars. The proxy war we have now is the war in Ukraine. A misunderstanding, or deliberate deception, could lead to a world war. Just look at Vietnam and the reasons the US got involved. Right now I believe the west is using the current war as testing grounds for unproven tech, like the tech used to shoot down hypersonic missles from Russia, but that tech week have to pay for itself one day.