The cold war was a conflict between the
communist East led by Russia and the capitalist West led by the USA. It was
pursued by means of power polities, economic pressure, Spying, propaganda,
careful deployment of forces, surprise attacks and improvised counter-attacks.
It was pursued through all means but for the declaration of war. Andre
Fontaine, in his book titled “History of the cold war” makes it clear that the
cold war remains the greatest war of all times. It should be noted that the
basic cause of the cold war could be found in the difference of principles
between the communist states and the capitalist states which had existed ever
since the communist had set up a government in Russia in 1917. When the
Bolsheviks came to power in Russia they began preaching of a World Revolution.
The idea of a world revolution provoked fear and hostility especially in the
West. Also the then Soviet leaders had assumed that the capitalist states in
the World were out to destroy the only socialist states in the world. This
soviet assumption dates back to 1918-1920 during the Russian civil war when the
capitalist states intervened on the side of the enemies of the Bolshevik
government. The events of 1918-1920 created a hostile feeling in the minds of
soviet leaders.
The
cold war was a very short episode in the history of Europe but it assumed at
the time an air of permanence owing to the metaphors of Frigidity and rigor in
which it was discussed. It two principal features were apparent in 1946 in the
speeches by Winston Churchill at Fulton, Missouri, in February in the presence
of president Harry Truman and his secretary of state James Byrnes, at Stuttgart
in September. These speeches showed that the tripartite Wartime alliance was
being replaced by a new pattern of two against one and that the United States,
so far from turning it back on Europe. Regarded Europe as an essential American
sphere of influence.
Although
president Truman had to accept virtual exclusion from central and Eastern
Europe, he secured by the Truman Doctrine of March 1947 a Foothold in the
Balkans and the middle East at the time when he was preparing to consolidate
anti-communist and anti Russian positions in Western Europe by a combination of
economic aid and military alliance embodied in the Marshall plan and the North
Atlantic Treaty.
These
were the beginnings of the policy of Containment, designed to Curb Russian
power and change the Russian mood but in April 1949 after the signing of the
North Atlantic Treaty organization, this essentially European policy was
complicated by a distant event, the out break of war in Korea in 1950, which
became a drain according to political observers on the forces available for
containment in Europe and converted containment from a European to a more
nearly global policy.
The
world may be plunged into another bitter phase of the cold war opine by
political analysts exactly 30years after Mikhail Gorbachev and president Ronald
Raegan signed a break through treaty on eliminating short and medium-range
nuclear missiles putting an end to the Arms race.
With
the recent missile test conducted by N.Korea since February 2017, the animosity
that existed between the Western powers championed by USA and the East led by
the former USSR after the end of the Second World War in 1945 may re-surface.
North
Korea Leader Kim Jong UN has fired 18 missiles since February 2017, the most
recent being two long range missiles, launched within one month. It should be
recalled that on the 28th of July 2017, North Korean launched Inter-continental
Ballistie missiles (ICBM) that is capable of reaching some US.
Cities
like Chicago and Los Angeles. This action by North Korea has caused uproar in
the US in particular and the international community in general. In reaction to
North Korea action the US. Congress passed a bill that in effect ranks Russia
along with Iran and North Korea as US top enemy and limit President Donald
Trump’s ability to lift sanctions against Moscow. These new tougher sanctions
voted against Russia, Iran and North Korea, some political pundits have
characterized this latest development as the return of the cold war. With the
recent development nuclear armed North Korea and the military might exhibited
by Russia Political juggernaut are of the opinion that the cold war may
re-escalate in the world.
Within
the framework of the present dispensation, Russia’s today GDP makes up only 1.5
percent of the world’s and it allies number exactly 10countries as per the vote
on the UN resolution on the annexation of Crimea. Two of those are former
soviet countries (Armenia and Belarus) and the remaining eight are Bolivia,
Venezuela, Zimbabwe, North Korea Cuba, Nicaragua Syria and Sudan. It should be
noted that some of these countries are plagued by poverty and internal
instability problems. Russia had tried to interfere with the domestic politics
of some countries in central and Eastern Europe and in the Balkans. She is
actively sponsoring Far-right parties. But despite these financial
transactions, Russia had not gained popular approval in any of these regions.
In Montenegro, GRU tried to organize a coup so as to stop the country’s request
to join NATO. The coup failed and infact threatened pro-NATO attitude among
Montenegrins. Their parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of NATO’s
membership.
With
all the missiles manoeuvers from nuclear North Korea and with Russian
intransigence in Syria and in the UN, the question in the minds of political
observers is, will America under the stewardship of president Donald Trump
Surmount the above equation (Russia and North Korea)
NB: TARH HUMPHREY NTANTANG is currently the
Regional chief of the bureau for circulation, Road safety and accident
prevention at the Center Regional Delegation of Transport since 2013. He holds a Bachelor of Art Degree in History
and Maitrise in political Science as well as a master’s Degree in Political
History and International Relation. He is a PhD research student at the
University of Yaoundé I
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