Could there be a new Cold War?

Question

I don't really know much about what's going on over this Russia/Georgia thing, but I heard about Russia being warned not to provoke a new Cold War. Can anyone kind of explain why and how it would come about? Do you think it could happen? If it did, what would be the changes in the country?

Answer 1

Of course there could be.   The military-industrial complex will assure it, and taxpayers will get the bill.

Answer 2

Seems to me like there`s a lot of sabre rattling going on.  There are enough problems in the world without Russia behaving in a provocative manner, The States should refrain from joining in with all this nonsense, too.

Answer 3

judging by the **** weather probably..

Answer 4

The Russia-Georgia conflict itself isn't that important, it's the principles behind it. Georgia is a country that was under the yoke of the Russians for several decades, and after the dissolution of the USSR in the early 90's there has been a lot of tension between them since, South Ossetia has just been the excuse. Russia and Georgia have conflicting interests and Russia wants control of the area, but Georgia is being stubborn.

Georgia is falling in with the West, which Russia doesn't like at all. Slowly American influence is spreading East across Europe, to the point where now the Americans are building a missile shield system in Czechoslovakia and Poland. It's not exactly the same as the Cuban Missile Crisis, but similar. It's not a blatant offencive system like the one that the Soviets were installing in Cuba, but it's still a military threat to Russian interests.

Basically, Russia is starting to feel good about itself again, and since it's been out of the game for a decade or two, it has lost influence in the areas that it considered to be its own not even 20 years ago. As they start to assert their control over these areas again, they are running into American opposition. So now by going into Georgia it's a direct challenge to NATO and the Americans, because Georgia has been trying to get membership in NATO and was seen as a likely candidate for membership.

I don't think that a new Cold War would be quite as pervasive as the first one was. The two countries aren't on the brink of war, and right now NATO is far stronger than Russia alone. There isn't the mighty Soviet Union staring us in the face all over the world, there is simply a still-broken Russia and its scattered allies. They have nukes, but we can pretty well safely say that they won't use them, and therefore they are weaker than us.

That being said, Russia has started exporting state-of-the-art military hardware to countries which are enemies of the U.S, primarily Iran and North Korea, not to mention various countries in the Middle East that are threats to Israel, and America is doing the same in return by helping out countries like Georgia. Both sides are equally as guilty.

The U.S can even be partially blamed for the insurgency in Chechnya which has claimed so many lives and rubles, which is a by-product of the insurgency in Afghanistan and other Muslim areas that were triggered in part by the U.S.

Answer 5

There well might be, as long as it does not turn 'hot'!

Answer 6

just expect more people to die over nonsense  

Answer 7

It's happening right now.  The U.S. and the European Union are trying to form alliances with former Soviet countries like Georgia, Estonia, etc. by offering them membership in the EU and NATO and placing anti-missile defense tools in their countries.  All of this obviously checks, or even reduces, Russia's level of influence in the region.

Meanwhile, Russia is using its windfall profits from selling oil, natural gas and other energy sources around the world to rebuild its military, and its using the fact that the US is bogged down in Iraq (and Afghanistan, if you like a little poetic irony) to seize the opportunity to reassert its influence in Georgia, Chechnya, etc.  Not only can the US do very little militarily or economically, but politically our hands are tied as well because we need Russia's help to deal with Iraq, North Korea and the war on terror.

Answer 8

A "cold war" is not actually a war in the normal sense of the word. The Cold War was a period of tension and hostility between the US and USSR from the late 1940s until the late 1980s. Note that these two nations did not actually fight each other during this period. Instead, they "duelled" on the world stage for influence in various places. This "war" was "cold" because there was not open conflict yet the two sides were clearly opposing one another's aims. There was conflict through proxy states and in areas where the two sides vied for influence. So, if you are asking if the US and USSR will become openly hostile to one another without actually fighting, the answer is maybe. One could argue that has already occurred -- whether it continues is debatable. If you're worried about open conflict, well that wouldn't be a cold war, but at any rate it is extremely unlikely due to the stakes involved.

Answer 9

it already feels like that to me.

Answer 10

NAA they'l just re use the old one.

Answer 11

looks like it

Answer 12

GWB has already laid the cornerstone with his Missile Shield plans in Poland. Having soviet missiles within easy striking distance of America didn't fly in the 60's and having US missiles within easy striking distance of Russia won't fly now. For a man who attended both Harvard and Yale he seems to not know much about history.