'History suggests that global geopolitics rarely ends peacefully. Under the circumstances, a new cold war—with militaries largely frozen in place—might just prove good news and that's about as depressing as it gets.'
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been widely described as the beginning of a new cold war, much like the old one in both its cast of characters and ideological nature."In the contest between democracy and autocracy, between sovereignty and subjugation, make no mistake—freedom will prevail," President Bidenin a televised address to the nation the day Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine.
During the Cold War, it was considered uncouth in governing circles to openly express such blatantly utilitarian motives. Instead, both sides fabricated lofty ideological explanations for their intense rivalry. Even then, though, geopolitical considerations all too often prevailed. For example, the Truman Doctrine, that early exemplar of Cold War ideological ferocity, wasto justify Washington's efforts to resist Soviet incursions in the Middle East, then a major source of oil for Europe .
From Putin's perspective, the origins of the Ukrainian conflict date back to the immediate post-Cold War years, when NATO, taking advantage of Russia's weakness at the time, relentlessly expanded eastward. In 1999, three former Soviet-allied states, Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic, all previously members of the Warsaw Pact , wereinto the alliance; in 2004, Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovakia were added, along with three former actual republics of the Soviet Union .
at a Munich Security Conference in 2007."On the contrary, it represents a serious provocation that reduces the level of mutual trust. And we have the right to ask: against whom is this expansion intended?"to Georgia and Ukraine, two former Soviet republics, that thoroughly inflamed Moscow's security anxieties. After all, Ukraine shares a 600-mile border with Russia, overlooking a large swath of its industrial heartland.
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