The Cold War

The Cold War Raising Its Ugly Head Again After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, one school of thought that came into being was that since there was supposedly one super power left in the world, the cold war would die a natural death. Recent developments have however shown otherwise. Tensions between the United States of America and Russia are rising steeply. Russia and the US are adopting a rather sinister strategy. They are taking full advantage of sympathetic friends who live on their adversary’s doorstep. The frontrunners for the title of Russia’s best friends in this regard will definitely go to Venezuela and Bolivia . They are prepared to dance to Russia’s tune just to spite the Americans. Russia recently sent Tupolev Tu 160 bombers to Venezuela to carry out training flights. This will be followed by a joint naval exercise in the Carribean this November. Leonid Golubev, Russian diplomat in Bolivia has said that "We want to show the United States that Latin America is not their backyard," He made it no secret that Russia wants to see its ties with Bolivia grow to the same level as those with Venezuela. Save for its ties with Cuba, Russia has not had a presence worth mentioning in Latin America since World War II. Americans can never feel safe. While America’s attention is firmly fixed on fighting terrorism in the Middle East, there is also a real threat at their doorstep. Recent developments will convince many that the deployment of long range missiles in Latin America by the Russians can no longer be regarded as a remote possibility. The US on its part has very willing friends who are Russia ‘s neighbours. Russia asserts that its deployment of missiles in the Kalingrad enclave was to counter a US anti-missile system to be deployed in Poland and the Czech Republic by 2014. Russia is also very uncomfortable with the close ties between USA and Georgia . The United States is a provider of bilateral security assistance to Georgia. Russia’s support and recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia may have nothing to do with convictions about what is right but is more of a finger up to America for stepping on its doorstep. So far , only Nicaragua has seconded the recognition of these breakaway regions. On top of that , Russia is no hurry to meet its commitments under the ceasefire deal brokered by current European Union chairman Nicolas Sarkozy. Russia has some leverage to bank on. She is aware that the EU has to put up a great balancing act. While the EU has mostly cordial relations with USA, its fate and that of Russia is intrinsically interwoven. Russia ranks as the EU’s third largest partner and in turn the EU is the largest investor in Russia. Whatever proposals the EU may craft, it is clear it will have to approach Russia with some respect. The solution to this cold war madness may lie in a series of eyeball to eyeball meeting between the adversaries in the hope that the end result will some cool heads in both camps. Meanwhile, international bodies (the UN included) must endeavour to put measures or regulations that limit the proliferation of long range missiles. A total ban may not be bad idea as this will make the world’s citizens feel much safer.