Rapidly, the invasion of Ukraine has brought back echoes of Cold War mentality to America with a familiar foe in Russia. The bars have served their Russian vodka. McDonald’s, which was a symbol for the fall of the Soviet Union in Moscow when it opened, has closed its Russian outlets. A U.S. president again sees a pitched ideological struggle. In his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden stated that “We will save democracy”.
The Kremlin has been a familiar geopolitical actor in America, where Russia is still a popular villain on television and film. It is a familiar, cold East-West wind that is now blowing again.
James Hershberg is a Georgetown University professor of international affairs and former director of Cold War International History Project at the Woodrow Wilson Center.
Hershberg doesn’t see much difference in today’s escalating tensions with Russia. He says that Vladimir Putin’s actions are not driven by ideology in the same way as communism was for Soviet Union. The media landscape has changed to make Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian President, a global leader.
However, in a situation where two superpowers are battling for supremacy on opposite sides of the nuclear spectrum, history is being repeated in different ways. Hershberg claims that Russia’s strategic overreach is creating a potentially dangerous moment in international order.
“We are in a second Cuban Missile Crisis in many aspects in terms of danger of escalation,” says Hershberg. Hershberg’s books include “Marigold”: The Lost Chance for Peace in Vietnam. “Putin acts so irrationally that he makes Nikita Chrushchev look like a rational actor in comparison.”
The biggest land conflict in Europe since World War II was Russia’s war in Ukraine which lasted two weeks has rallied Western allies like no other events. The U.S. and its European allies have implemented severe economic sanctions against Russia, which Biden extended on Tuesday to Russian crude oil – while still defining the line on military engagement.
Fredrik Logevall is a Harvard professor of international affairs and Pulitzer-Prize winner author of “JFK”: Coming of Age and the American Century, 1917-1956.
Logevall states, “But, if you’re speaking more broadly about a Cold War, if we refer to a titanic struggle between two incompatible system but without outright military conflict — then yes, this is a Cold War.”
Because Putin’s worldview is so heavily influenced by the Cold War, it is inextricably linked to the Ukraine crisis. Former KGB agent, he called the collapse and disintegration of the Soviet Union the “greatest geopolitical disaster” of the 20th Century. The invasion of Ukraine was intended to prevent Western influence and NATO infringements from Russia’s sphere, and possibly to restore a Texas-sized portion of the former Soviet Union.
Two weeks into the Cold War, it has been frequently invoked. Antonio Guterres, U.N. Secretary General, stated that “the threat of global security now” is greater and more complex than it was during the Cold War. This is partly due to the lack of back channels of communication. According to Interfax report , Alexander Darchiyev from Russia’s Foreign Ministry suggested recently that it might be worthwhile recalling the long-forgotten principle of peaceful coexistence that worked during Cold War.
Americans have had a historically negative view of Russia since before the war in Ukraine. Gallup poll in February found that 85% of Americans view Russia negatively. This is easily the worst rating in over three decades. It was accelerated by Russia’s meddling in U.S. election, its annexation and nerve agent attack on Alexei Navalny , who is currently in prison.
While ex-president Donald Trump still holds high regard for Putin the anti-Russian sentiment enjoys uncommon bipartisan support. Gallup revealed that 88% of Republicans and Democrats view Russia negatively. A common enemy is the best thing to unite us.
Nina Khrushcheva is a Moscow-born professor at the New School of New York and the great grand-daughter to Nikita Khrushcheva. She believes that the Cold War never ended and that Russia’s image of the West was distorted in cartoons like “Rocky and Bullwinkle”. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was, for her, devastating as it confirmed her worst fears about her country. She now apologizes to her classmates and begins her classes.
Khrushcheva says Putin is the global villain that he is, and Russia will be finished for decades to follow.” Khrushcheva is the great-grandfather of President John F. Kennedy’s predecessor in the Soviet Union. She says that “my country just killed itself” and that the U.S. has “got their enemy back.”
Khrushcheva says, “They got their enemy who has always been and always deserves to be and always will be at the forefront American mind.” “Russia has no excuse. It’s not a field day for America. America is back, and it’s riding a white horse to save a country in middle Europe from the terrible Russian Bear.”
Logevall, co-author of “America’s Cold War. The Politics of Insecurity,” doesn’t anticipate a Cold War rerun. The world isn’t as bipolar today as it was a few decades ago. The world is much more bipolar than it was decades ago. China signed a pact shortly before the invasion by Russia. The interconnectedness of the global economic — where waves upon corporations have severed ties to Russia — makes it more difficult to accept isolated coexistence.
The conflict in Ukraine appears to be at most a coda to Cold War, if it is not a new beginning.
“Putin feels immense resentment over the ending of the Cold War. The West declares victory. Russia loses power and influence. Logevall said that he feels resentful for Western triumphalism. Logevall says that history is what drives him in a certain way.
