Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Cold War Rhetoric

By Cernig

I think we can safely assume the Cold War is back on again.

America has announced a third antimissile base in Europe will be built - probably in Turkey. This will continue the "accidental" encirclement of Russia by US anti-missile systems, ostensibly to guard against non-existant threats from Iran and North Korea. The US says it is surprised at the Russian reaction.

Russia is conducting long-range bomber patrols and full fleet exercises again - including overflights of US bases and carrier groups - and expresses puzzlement at the American reaction.

For those who weren't old enough to experience it first-hand, expressing puzzlement while carrying out provocative acts and attempting to out-manouver the other was a defining hallmark of the original Cold War. The inability to talk straight to each other ended up being the main reason the Cold War perpetuated itself. So we're back to that again. Nice.

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