Gorbachev Is Wrong About a New Cold War

NATO monitors have reported Russian troops and equipment crossing into eastern Ukraine, and the West urges both sides to abide by ceasefire terms in place since September. Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has warned of a new Cold War – “For the author of glasnost… things went wrong when the US and Europe invited formerly communist states into NATO and thus humiliated Russia during its moment of weakness” – yet tensions between Russia and the West should not escalate to pre-1989 levels, suggests Philip Stephens for Financial Times. Russia’s authoritarian system of government lacks the exportability of the Soviet system of communism. The underpinning contest is not one of political ideologies. Russia, while dangerous, poses a smaller threat both politically and economically. Moreover, Russia and the West are intertwined in mutual efforts to reform the Middle East over issues like nuclear disarmament and Sunni extremism. Comparisons to the Cold War imply confrontation rather than the ongoing search for diplomatic resolutions, including western resolve over economic sanctions for Russia. – YaleGlobal