Are we going to witness a new Cold-War?

Cold War meaning: It was a brief period of conflict post-WWII between the two superpowers, the USA and the USSR

After WWII, the USA, and the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republic) were the only two superpowers. With the global need for peace and integrity, both nations were running the race for global domination. With the USA and its Western Bloc or Capitalist Bloc against the USSR and its Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc were aiming for world-wide supremacy. 

Cold War Timeline

The exact period which led to the initiation of rising tensions between both sides can be dated to the Truman Doctrine of 1947. The two superpowers were involved in scuffles across their allies but mass usage of arms and arsenal was prohibited, hence the term Cold War. 

Here is the detailed Cold War timeline:

• 1945 - Bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 
• 1949 - NATO established; USSR started testing their nuclear weaponry
• 1950-53 - Korean War and the death of Stalin
• 1955-56 - Warsaw Pact signed; Hungary revolts against the USSR regime
• 1959 -  Cuba becomes the first communist state outside USSR
• 1961-65 - USA increased attention in Vietnam
• 1979 - USSR invades Afghanistan
• 1986 - Meeting between USSR and USA in Iceland
• 1987 - INF treaty signed

Cold War summary

The Cold War eventually ended after the fall of the USSR and the USA rising as the supremo of the world. With major capitalist decisions in its basket, the USA laid out plans and schemes that would make control easier. Although, not every country was in the fluxed plans of the USA. China came out to be the next possible superpower. 

Lenin’s statue brought down (USSR’s fall)

In the Cold War, China was with the USSR in the Eastern Bloc. The communist regime in China was complex than that of the USSR. After the fall of the USSR, the Chinese were more indulged in making their country armed and strong in all the walks of life. 

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, tensions among the USA, Russia (successor of the USSR) and China were now sensed on a global level. A new breed of conflicts was now witnessed in the virtual world. Cyberwarfare was on the rise and every nation was building the best of the cyber network. 

Must read: Olympics during the Cold War

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last head of the Soviet Union warned against the developing tensions between the West and Russia. The Ukrainian Crisis of 2014 and Russia’s invasion of Crimea involved America in the crisis. Though it was not involved through weapons, economically and financially it was taking a keen interest in the post-development of the crisis. 

On the other hand, Donald Trump, the president of the USA led the country to full-fledged warfare with China. The involvement of the USA in the quandary between China and Taiwan in the South China Sea led to growing tensions in the West and Beijing. With the USA supporting Taiwan with weaponry sales, China realized its new enmity with the USA. 

Bitter US and China relations

In an interview with Time magazine in December 2014, Gorbachev said that the US under Barack Obama was dragging Russia into a new cold war. In February 2016, at the Munich Security Conference, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that NATO and Russia were "not in a cold-war situation but also not in the partnership that we established at the end of the Cold War". Although NATO denies the rise of a new Cold War, its signs are duly noted in the activities and development of cyber warfare. 

Former M16 chief John Sawers in 2016 said that the world was entering an era that was possibly more dangerous than the Cold War, as we do not have that focus on a strategic relationship between Moscow and Washington. 

Is it going to be a China-US Cold War?

A new Cold War is surely rising with the USA and NATO against China and Russia. This new war is fought on the cyber world and global control is discussed over economic and financial policies.