Cold War Or Old War?
Since Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine began, there has been renewed talk about how the Cold War seems to have been revived. World War Three is again trending on social media, and not without valid concern. But what is actually going on?
The original cold war lasted from 1945 to 1991. It began with the Potsdam Conference at the end of World War two as the victors met to decide how to divide Europe and the rest of the world between them. As it turned out, the then Soviet Union got East German and within a few years Eastern Europe, the West got the rest and eventually South Korea and South Vietnam as China became part of the Communist world. The Cold War became an ideological and sometimes military battleground, with proxy wars between both sides, most famously in Southeast Asia, Korea, and Latin America. America and its allies prevailed with the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe and the breakup of the Soviet Union itself, while China remained a sometimes foe and eventual trading partner. North Korea and Cuba became the last remaining examples of surviving Communist dictatorships, but they were mostly contained without their former supporters.
Enter Vladimir Putin. Putin first became Prime Minister, then President of Russia,a position he has held for nearly two decades. During his time in power, he has been accused of stifling dissent and using other authoritarian tactics reminiscent of his predecessors. In 2014 he annexed Crimea and part of Eastern Ukraine, ostensibly to protect Russian-born citizens living there. This uneasy state of affairs continued until February 2022 when he decided to invade the rest of Ukraine.
The invasion has drawn harsh and swift condemnation from most of the rest of the world, with governments and businesses moving to isolate Putin and Russia through sanctions, boycotts and corporate withdrawals. The Ukrainian people have drawn almost universal praise for their courage and determination to fight back or at least survive, with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy
emerging as an international hero and symbol of resistance.
But where did this come from? What does Putin want? Is it a restoration of the Soviet Union, as some have accused him of doing, or is it a deeper, personal motive, given that he sees Ukraine as where Russia historically began and therefore as Russian territory, regardless of whether the people there want it to be or not? Is he crazy, ill, or trying to secure a controversial legacy?
But it may go deeper than that. The conflict has threatened to involve the rest of Europe, both NATO and non NATO members, as weapons and foreign fighters flood the country. Whether he wanted to or not, Putin has inflamed nationalist passions in Russia’s neighbors, many of whom have long standing historical reasons to get involved. For that reason, the Ukraine war may be not so much a revival of the Cold War, but a continuation of much older ones. That, historically, has not ended well for those involved.
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