Did the Cold War really end?

Shawn

It's nearly been 30 years since the cold war ended, and the former Eastern satellites are enjoying tremendous economic growth.

Yet, the active measures campaign against the 2016 US elections, which is indisputably true, really strikes as a revival of cold war sentimentality. There's so much to say about this topic, that I have no idea where to start. Crimea was a test for Russia, and it went smoothly for them. Not much opposition.

Now, even Putin realizes that the same span of influence once held by the USSR will never return, and instead is focusing on maintaining order in a rather chaotic country.

It would take the utmost native understanding that Russia has buried its past and has made peace with the US. Yet, I think only imbeciles would believe this.

So, what's Russia's goal here? Obviously, they vehemently hate NATO and want to see what little is left of it in ruin and disarray.

Germany is still infested with loyalist Stasi officers from the Eastern block, and the US has no idea if they are allies or foes. They seem to have a very cozy relationship with one another.

China is trying to forge an alliance with Russia in the One Belt Road that would pass through Russia, stopping at Europe.

It strikes me as an obsession that Russia would want it former glory to remerge on the global stage again. Yet, they are economically struggling despite being the most resource-laden land in existence, probably more so than China.

So, what are your opinions about the aspirations of Russia?

Echarmion

↪Wallows

If we take "the Cold War" to describe a certain geopolitical arrangement, it certainly has ended. America is, for the time being, still the only superpower on the planet, and militarily there is nothing even close to the power of NATO. The situation is moving more toward a multipolar world, so e.g. what Europe looked like in the early 20th century.

So, what's Russia's goal here? Obviously, they vehemently hate NATO and want to see what little is left of it in ruin and disarray — Wallows

I think the Russian relation to NATO is not quite hate. For the leadership, NATO is merely inconvenient. For many people, NATO may still be the big boogeyman, a leftover of decades of propaganda.

Germany is still infested with loyalist Stasi officers from the Eastern block, and the US has no idea if they are allies or foes. They seem to have a very cozy relationship with one another. — Wallows

Uh, what? Have you been to Germany?

China is trying to forge an alliance with Russia in the One Belt Road that would pass through Russia, stopping at Europe. — Wallows

Russia is going to end up being the junior partner in that alliance though.

It strikes me as an obsession that Russia would want it former glory to remerge on the global stage again. Yet, they are economically struggling despite being the most resource-laden land in existence, probably more so than China.

So, what are your opinions about the aspirations of Russia? — Wallows

I think the Russian leadership is selling the idea of a return to former glory to it's people. For the moment it's working quite well for them, though there is also strong dissent. In practical terms I suspect the Russian geopolitical strategy is to become a great power in a future, multipolar world, with it's own sphere of influence and, importantly, economic control over that sphere. I suspect the window of opportunity is closing though. Being resource-rich is likely going to matter less and less going into the future.

ssu

So, what are your opinions about the aspirations of Russia? — Wallows

First you have to understand Russia, even it's so difficult.

Russia has an inherent fear and distrust of the West. First came Napoleon, then Hitler, the third time they will be ready. Russia in it's official military doctrine states the number 1. threat to it the enlargement of NATO. That means you (the US). Terrorism is somewhere in the place 15th - 20th place of important issues.

And the best defense is offense. Take the initiative, don't let the enemy gain it.

Russians, especially those in power, justify their actions as defence against especially the US. Any kind of post-Cold War honeymoon ended with the war in Kosovo in 1999. That was the time when basically this new Cold War started: then NATO and Russian troops came close to firing at each other as Russia deployed quickly it's own peacekeepers into Kosovo before NATO troops.

Above all, everything is domestic politics in the end. And in Russia it is a small cabal made up of siloviks, former and present intelligence and military men, that hold power. These men, especially their leader Vladimir Putin, need a sinister enemy to justify his actions against his domestic opposition. The silovik mind sees foreign intelligence services behind all grass roots opposition movements. And of course, Russia is seen as a Great Power and the fall of the Soviet Union, in Putin's own words, the worst catastrophe ever to happen.

I like sushi

So, what's Russia's goal here? Obviously, they vehemently hate NATO and want to see what little is left of it in ruin and disarray. — Wallows

Hardly surprising given that NATO was mainly set up to protect against the ‘Red Menace’. Would Russians invade and reclaim land if the heavy military presence on their borders disappeared?

The US and Russia have been fighting proxy wars for some time. The Cold War is over though. I’d call what we see today ‘amicable hostilities’ :D

ssu

The Cold War is over though. I’d call what we see today ‘amicable hostilities’ :D — I like sushi

The Cold War is over only in the way that Russia doesn't have the resources of the Soviet Union and doesn't have the Warsaw Pact. Otherwise, Russia's strategy, it's defensive plans against the West, follow quite the same kind of thinking as earlier. Perhaps now it's just not so confined in it's actions with a political ideology as Marxism-Leninism as the Soviet Union was.

Did the Cold War really end?

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