COLD WAR II ROUND THE CORNER ! ! !

The Cold War that came to a formal end in 1991 was feasible for the voluntary withdrawal of the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republic(USSR).At that time there was obviously no other better option because almost all the East European countries under the Warsaw Pact faced critical economic problems and political indiscipline accordingly that pressurized them to adopt a non-Communist way to survival.And it is also known to many that the Gorbachev Government well decided to let those countries choose their future option on their own.That is why,the Gorbachev regime used to address the Sinatra Doctrine based on Frank Sinatra's popular song 'My Way'.From this,it was improvised as choosing their own way(s) as a crisis-management measure.

Therefore,the end of the Cold War can be attributed to the lack of functional unity within the Soviet Bloc.This made the US the monopoly Superpower in the World since then.It was a golden opportunity for the US to institutionalize the Comprehensive Globalism which has been responsible for globalization in the Services(Tertiary) Sector.It has enabled each developing economy come to synthetic terms with the developed ones,thereby establishing a market-regulated World economic system.

In International Relations,powers are mainly of two types--hard power and soft power.The flux of service sector growth,no doubt, has brought enormous changes in mass-finances as well as in their culture in terms of tastes,disciplines in daily-life and lessened priority to values.While huge investment implies the hard power of the US-led capitalist West accompanied with few developed Asian countries,on the other hand,the Western culture has been imbibed in almost all these Third World nations.This is the triumph of the capitalistic soft power.

But there is another hard power ,that is,the military power and the strategic strength.In due course,the US has also attempted to successfully motivate the strategic policies of those countries in the US favour.But,Russia seems to be not digesting such opportunities enjoyed by the West.That was also evident from the then Russian President V. Putin almost a year back. He indicated that Russia would not always tolerate the US leadership over the World.Even this year there has been a serious clash with the US over Iran's nuclear issue,the US's missile shield plan for the East Europe,Kosovo independence and Russia's war with the US ally Georgia.The Russia's new President also triggered off the fresh enmity with the West by allowing the test firing a ballistic missile named Sineva launched by Tula,a nuclear-powered submarine to the mid-Pacific Ocean for the first time.This is,no doubt, an attempt to re-start the Cold War by provoking the West with hot strategic threats.However,the US,too,had provoked Russia by her strategic policies for the East Europe.Further,Medvedev has declared a peculiar decision; as,on the one hand,he looks at the chance of reviving relations with Russia's traditional Cold War ally,Cuba under Raul Castro,the brother of Fidel Castro, so,on the other hand,Medvedev welcomes Obama's government and is optimistic about successfully building up a good relation with the new US Government under the 'Democrats'.However,history says that the development of the plots for the World War II,the War itself as also the foundation of the Capitalist Bloc along with its military wing,NATO--all took place during the long ruling by the Democrats indeed.From 1933 to 1953,two 'Democrat' President(s),Roosevelt and Truman in succession ruled the US.Even John F. Kennedy's opposition to Cuba is well known to the World.Also,Russia experienced a lot in 1979 concerning Afghanistan during Jimmy Carter(1977-'81) as the then US President.During the Cold War tenure,as many as four 'Democrat' President(s) and five 'Republican' President(s) made the 'White House' memorable.And,if at all it is to be said of any mutual understanding between the US and the USSR for the first time to control the arms race and make the conflict colder,whereby I mean 'detente',it was during the 'Republicans' particularly at the time of Richard M.Nixon who revised the US policy of huge defence expenditure.So,the peaceful policy of containment was first established by the 'Republicans', not the 'Democrats'.However,in most cases,the 'Republican' US President(s) starting from Ronald Reagan up to G.W.Bush are found to have been highly aggressive towards the erstwhile USSR or Russia at present.So,from that experience there is a valid reason behind Medvedev's optimism.

On the other hand,Russia,too,is no more that hardcore Communistic today.She has modified herself a lot particularly with the help of GLASNOST and PERESTROIKA.Yet,Russia still wants to revive the Cold War.Her partial shift from India is also another evidence to that claim.Some years back Russia supported Pakistan's proposal to denuclearize the South Asia.Virtually therefore it was targeting India.India has recently concluded a civil nuclear pact with the US.Further,India now feels stronger and more independent than ever.India shuns giving that much importance to Russia in so many cases.So,there are enough reasons behind her current opposition to India.Maybe,that is why,on the pretext of the disagreement concerning India's contribution to the respective depreciation account,the Russian Navy denied temporarily the sale or lease of a nuclear attack submarine named K-152 Nerpa to India whereas the latter bore the partial cost of its building under the Gorshkov package.In fact,alliance shifting also occurs Russia.In her wooing the US,there lies a doubt as to if or not Russia wants to corner India by taking the advantage of the new US President Obama's antipathy towards the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Cooperation signed under the 'Republican' US President G.W.Bush. Besides,Obama has already shown indication to interfere with the Kashmir crisis and there is every possibility that this US attempt might ruin Indo-US relation. As to the IPI Gas Pipeline Project,there has been a tight rapport between Iran and Pakistan while China wants India's absence from this Project;it is one kind of opposing to India.If China at all had the good intention regarding the matter,she would have joined as a fourth member to the Gas Pipeline Project.But China does not still intend actual peaceful co-operation with India.

Hence,there is again a potential grid of alliance including countries like Pakistan,China,Medvedev's Russia under the leadership of Obama's US.There is also a challenge to the Indo-Iran relation in the present context.However,thanks to the conclusion of the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Cooperation,India's nuclear isolation has been obsolete. As a result,India's civil nuclear understanding with France in late September,2008 has,no doubt,initiated India's new journey of reorganization herself with so many affluent powers,apart from the US. Thus,it is taking an acute alliance rebuilding by shrugging off all the previous satellitism based on ideological differences.Probably,it is regulated partly by the sophisticated functionalism as a salient feature of globalization.So,is it not developing the plot for the undeclared COLD WAR II with some specific changes in camp leadership and composition ???

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