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| No | 36% | 101 votes | Total: 277 votes | |
| Yes | 64% | 176 votes |
No
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Add to FavoritesI do not believe, sincerely, that either the United States or the Russian Federation is ready to start another cold war. Both countries are involved in more situations than either can handle. The United States is involved, of course, with Iraq and Afghanistan and the Russian Federation is involved with the many smaller countries surrounding it and trying to keep them in check. This does not mean that I do not think there are forces out there that would love to see the United States get into a cold war with the east again. I believe that there are forces out there that would love to take the focus away from other situations by creating a cold war between the east and the west again.
North Korea, China and Cuba and North Vietnam, the four remaining Communist Countries that I know of, seem to be willing to work to keep a cold war from becoming a reality. I think the United States and the Russian Federation is doing all that it can to stop from creating another cold war. With the east joining NATO, I believe we are looking at continued cooperation instead of pulling apart. Continued cooperation on the International Space Station and other ideas that are in the works will keep the east and the west out of cold war thinking. Even though the Communist ideology does not truly exist in the Russian Federation, there will always be mumblings of going back to that, but I do not believe that the Russian people would be interested in another cold war. Neither would the United States and other members of the west.
Another way to look at all of this is that if Russia and the United States entered into a cold war setting again, would this mean that more than half of the National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association members and players be recalled to Russia? Would that mean the collapse of two great sports? Soon, we might see Russians playing baseball and football. There is no time for a cold war.
Learn more about this author, David Brown.
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Yes
Among the historical circumstances in which I grew up, the most significant was an international situation called the "cold war." The phrase did not actually refer to a war, but to set of political, economic, military, and cultural circumstances we feared might turn into a war, one that simply could not be allowed to take place because it would be too destructive, to costly.
What is a cold war? What is a hot war? Simply put, a hot war is a war and a cold war is not. The term "cold" was used because conditions were present that might lead to a war. The guns were aimed but the order to fire had not been given. Once the orders are given and the guns are fired, then the war is no longer cold.
Strangely enough, we are presently threatened by a war that helps create a similar situation. We are afraid because we can imagine the expansion of this war to perhaps even disastrous dimensions that may rival what we feared in the cold war days. The reality is that because the expansion has not yet occurred, we have another cold war on our hands. Though it is not clear what role Russia or the old formulation play in the present situation, it is safe to say that Russia is a player in it, perhaps a major one.
The war in Iraq, as it turns out, does not contribute to the prevention of the larger war. But it was intended to contribute to it. Or, at least, those who argued for it did not see it as a factor that might lead to an expansion. They were wrong. Future administrations will have to create policies that take this war as a starting point and are aimed at avoiding the larger war.
Thus the cold nature of the war we face. Opinions about this international situation abound. Humility is in order on everyone's part because no one really knows how to solve this situation. What remains, after all is said and done, is the reality that, as in the former cold war, everyone wins if the war we imagine is kept cold. As in my childhood in the sixties and seventies, the cloud that hovers over everything is the cloud of a war that can't be fought.
Learn more about this author, Mark Allison.
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