Are we returning to the "bad ole days"?

[vdogg]

Some recent events have led me wonder if we may be witnessing the beginning of another cold war. The effort by America to deploy a missle defense shield here in the states was already ruffling Russian feathers. The recent U.S effort to deploy a missle shield in Europe has made them down right angry. With statements like this:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday described as "extremely unfortunate" a Russian general's threat to target Poland and the Czech Republic if they host American missile defense bases.

[suburban george3]

Some recent events have led me wonder if we may be witnessing the beginning of another cold war. The effort by America to deploy a missle defense shield here in the states was already ruffling Russian feathers. The recent U.S effort to deploy a missle shield in Europe has made them down right angry. With statements like this:

And a recent speech by Vladmir Putin at an international summit that would\'ve made Nikita Khrushchev proud, I have been left wondering. Are we experiencing a new chill in U.S./Russian relations? What do you guys think?

[krazeeboi]

I actually do think that Russia is starting to slowly but surely distance itself from the U.S. However, I don't know if it's possible to experience another Cold War; at this point, I think globalization is too entrenched for that to happen.

[Snowguy716]

Russia has never had a long stable period of democracy. In fact, they've had rather authoritarian autocratic regimes since time eternal.

Every time another system comes in, it is simply taken over by movers and shakers that will do the same things the previous regime did.

The world will not allow Russia to become a super power again.

The country has a declining population, has lost most of its influence and will continue to do so into the future.

[Charlotteman]

Just as the Soviet Union was not financially able to keep up a nuclear arms race against the US in the 1980s, modern day Russia would have the same difficuties. Although it's economy has improved, Russia still isn't exactly overflowing with cash and wealth.

Putin might desire to reestablish an arms race, but Russia wouldn't have the $$$ to back it up.

Nevertheless, Putin does appear to be an unsavory individual, not a Western-style democrat at all. His autocratic governing style is unsettling. Let's hope the Russian people establish a more progressive democracy in the near future. In the meantime it looks like the West will need to keep a close eye on Russia, just as it has since 1947.

[Pillsbury]

How is Russia at this point? I know for most of the 90s it was having a tough time with its experiment with capitalism. Are things better? Worse?

[rnc]

How is Russia at this point? I know for most of the 90s it was having a tough time with its experiment with capitalism. Are things better? Worse?

[Gusterfell]

Very good point, cloudship. Rather than pointing at Putin or Russia alone as seeking a new cold war, we should keep in mind that our own government has done much in recent years to strain our relationship with Russia, along with most of our allies. As the opening post mentioned, The chilly rhetoric coming from Putin's government is in response to our own actions that could be interpreted as less than friendly.

[monsoon]

The Cold War was a stand off between political and economic systems that had it's roots in the 1930s and stemmed mainly from the collapse of the old European monarchies in Europe during industrialization. After WWII, the two systems that remained were capitalism/democracy and socialism/communism. The 70 year old cold war between these two systems was the result. The Soviet system has failed and there won't be another Cold War of the type we saw in the last 1/2 of the 20th century with Russia.

Putin is simply in the position of not having to bow down to George Bush and the United States. He is sitting on most of the world's supply of natural resources, resources that are desperately needed in an over populated world, and this includes most of the world's known oil reserves. There are those in the USA, that don't like this fact and choose to paint Putin as someone who is looking to bring chaos back to the world. This of course detracts from the fact that the only nation in the world that is making war is the United States.

BTW, by any measure that I know of, Russia is still a super power. They still have enough nuclear offensive power to make the planet un-inhabitable if they wished. What more do they need? This is the country the USA had to rely on to put people in space when it was determined the space shuttle was unreliable. They are not a backwash.

Meanwhile this simply detracts from the fact the real danger in the future in this arena is from China. People seem to forget that it is still a communist nation and one that is hell bent on preserving its state in its form. What is alarming about this is that its rise is being funded by American industry and money while at the same time it is buying up USA treasury bills at an alarming rate. China will "own" us in the next generation if people here don't wake up and demand that business and government change their ways about this nation.

[Charlotteman]

The Russian Federation of today is strictly a one-dimensional "super power". And that one dimension happens to be military/nuclear war capability.

Surprisingly, Russia's economy (GDP) is only the 14th largest in the world. Mexico's GDP is bigger. Holland's GDP is almost the size of Russia's (Holland pop. ~13 million)

Putin doesn't have much to back up his swagger--except threats of nukes I guess. Too bad the country's focus isn't on it's domestic economy instead of military spending.

[Charlotte_native]

I think a lot of people and countries in the world, including Russia, are concerned about us. We are the war hawks these days, we like to refer to other nations as either good or evil, we ironically are bogged down in Afgahnistan just like the Soviet Union was, and we are interfering in the internal affairs of far more regions and countries than anyone else in the world.

The Soviet Union held power by force and military might and the world united in many forms to starve them out -- I really hope our lack of allies since we've started our war on terror isn't putting us in that position. There are many countries out there that would gladly band together against us and some that already have.

Whether we are heading back to a Cold War with Russia, I personally doubt it in any type of form it was in the past, but if we remain as aggressive as we've been lately I think others will be trying to figure out how to protect themselves against us and siding with Russia might be an option they choose. If we invade or bomb many more countries without world acceptance or sanction, can you blame them?

[MZT]

Sadly and/or unfortunately, Putin was quite interested in mending fences with the west and attracting foreign inventment when he first came to power. But George Bush felt that he had Russia cornered and didn't offer Putin much in return - diplomatically, stategically, or economically.

If you've followed foreign policy news from the countires all around Russia the last 7 years (and Putin's actions before and shortly after 9/11), you can clearly see the pattern of reversals. Uzbekistan, and Ukraine especially. These countries were warily suspcious of Russia, and now look to Russia for support.

It was a lost opportunity to reorient Russia and it's client states to align with the west. Russia shares a border with China, and faces a demographic and immigration crisis much like ours with Mexico. But at least we largely share a western-derived language and religion with the Mexicans, and nobody is predicting that Mexico can cleave the US southwest away in a revolution... There is a real possibility of that happening along Russia's border with China. Russia won that territory in an 1860s war, and China has never unequivacably said it has revoked all it's claims.