Winning the new Cold War

[unhappycamper]

http://www.macleans.ca/news/world/winning-the-new-cold-war/



Winning the new Cold War
by Michael Petrou

Late last month, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin posted a photograph on his Twitter feed of Santa Claus and a long line of Russian military personnel standing in front of a behemoth ballistic missile. The caption read: “We wish our friends from NATO a Happy New Year.”



The tone was more jaunty than threatening. Russia feels it can poke fun at NATO, the European Union and the United States, because, in its ongoing contest for global influence, an assertive Russia is enjoying a strong run against an American rival whose clout is shrinking as it retreats from places it once dominated—or, at least, contested—in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

At home, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s popularity is threatened by public frustration with corruption and incompetence in his administration. An awakened civil society challenges the autocratic nature of his rule. And the upcoming Sochi Olympics have highlighted the security problems Russia faces from militant Islamism. But the Olympics, and the massive investment Russia has made to ensure they are spectacular, also demonstrate Putin’s desire to re-establish Russia as a powerful and respected global player.

Russia spent much of the first decade following the Soviet Union’s collapse shaken by economic instability, its global stature shrunken. Once the leader of an empire that was feared throughout the West, Russia was pitied and smirked at. That’s all changed in recent years.