The New Cold War: U.S., Russia, P.R. China

Abstract

This essay seeks to explore major challenges confronting the United States in a new Cold War era. It proposes that the Cold War entered a new phase, post-1991, with the Soviet Union restructured as the Commonwealth of Independent States. Yet, CIS is increasingly a “Ring of Instability” which Russia seeks to remedy by supporting pro-Russian factions and building new buffer zones after the Russia-Georgia War in 2008, annexing Crimea in 2014, and invading Ukraine in 2022. But P.R. China’s quest for world dominance via extension of “soft power” and “unrestricted warfare” poses an even greater challenge to the Free World. The U.S. confronts a Sino-Russian axis and their client states--North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cuba--sharing a Marxist-Leninist ideology and totalitarian one-party systems wrapped in nationalism. While healing its internal social divisions due to identity politics, the U.S. needs to reclaim its technological lead, rebuild its manufacturing, and strengthen alliances, where its partners need to take on greater responsibility for the common defense.