Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Are We Facing 'Cold War Two'?

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (L) listens to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during a news conference at the United Nations Headquarters in Manhattan, New York, December 18, 2015. REUTERS/EDUARDO MUNOZ

Josh Cohen, Reuters: Current U.S.-Russia tensions are dangerous -- but not ‘Cold War Two’

Since Russian-American relations spiraled downwards after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, analysts and politicians have begun to raise the once unthinkable: the advent of Cold War Two. Both American and Russian commentators have declared “Welcome to Cold War Two,” while NATO’s retiring supreme allied commander, Europe stated that “trying to prevent a Cold War” was now his successor’s responsibility. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev went one step further, arguing “one could go so far as to say we have slid back to a new Cold War.”

So is a new Cold War underway? On the surface some similarities exist. Russian jets buzz U.S. planes and ships in the Baltic Sea, while American armored brigades deployed to Europe and NATO start military drills near the Russian border. Tensions are clearly rising. Nevertheless, the current situation misses several elements of the Cold War -- and provided both sides act wisely, Cold War Two need never arise.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: I have been voicing since last year that the trend lines between Russia and the West have not been good .... but a return to the Cold War .... we are still far from that. Josh Cohen nails it in this commentary and analysis on why that is the case.

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