War, Power, Fame - is there room for two?
By Hugh Houghton
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones".
-Albert Einstein
We are now closer to WW3 than the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The Cold war was a stalemate of the mid to late 20th century. It spanned from March 1947 and concluded in December 1992. The timeline of this game of cat and mouse has many notorious events such as the rise of the Berlin wall in 1961, as well as the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Due to the fall of communist Russia in 1991, the Western Power of the USA saw little need for a new confrontation and saw no need to plunge the globe into conflict. However, is the rise of China and the attempted expansion of Russia a threat? Could the world be plunged back into a stalemate that haunted the globe for so many years?
Ukraine is a massive issue currently. This is a conflict that we have not seen the likes of since the Second World War with Russia attempting to wipe out any sense of Ukrainian Nationalism. The 24th of February saw the Russian invasion of Ukraine which has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of military personnel and civilians. The expansion by Russia has been seen as a move by Vladimir Putin to create a Soviet buffer state, one to rival its previous Cold war counterpart. However, it appears that this move is not a spread of ideology, but a move to expand Russian influence and restore Russia to its past “glory”. Whilst, this has been seen by many as a move by Russia to expand however it is far more likely that this invasion is concentrated towards the ambitions of one man, Vladimir Putin.
Putin has a resentment of the West. Born in 1952, he was ripe for the KGB and its anti-western activities. With the fall of the communist bloc, Putin saw everything he knew about his once-great nation crumble. He gradually expanded Russian influence and tried to flex the once-great muscles of Russia. Russia holds the largest arsenal of nuclear warheads in the world 5,977. This could start a Cold war as Russia creates a threat of nuclear action and nations vowing retaliation in such an incident. This back and forth is beginning to feel like the threats of the late 20th century and could re-initiate a new arms race with deadlier consequences as weapons become more advanced. However, attention might be needed elsewhere.
China; she boasts a population of 1.4 billion people. China has more power than we realise. Who makes all our phones, laptops, and clothes? They have control over nearly every aspect of our lives and could hold the globe to ransom. With the current heat in Europe, China has slowly been expanding. The threat of expansion into areas such as Taiwan and the building of small islands to increase the territory of vital trading areas, such as the South China Sea. China has begun to spread influence into Africa with Chinese investment, creating loyalty. It does look possible that an ambitious nation such as China could play a major role in initiating a new Cold war between Western nations and possible expansionist countries such as China and Russia. However, China is a massive world player and the chance of it ruining this over a small number of islands is very limited.
Should the current situation be labelled as a second Cold war? No. The powerhouses of the modern world are most likely the USA and China. However, the strength of these powers is diluted from the times of the Cold war, as weapons and economic strength are spread among many nations around the globe. There is little possibility of a new Cold war and certainly, the threat of nuclear war is minimal. However, although the future may not hold a Cold war, it may hold something equally, or even more distressing.
