Cold War Two

As energy-rich Russia grows ever more confident, accusing the US of flouting international law, and Washington moves to deploy an anti-missile system on Moscow's doorstep, you could be forgiven for believing that we're back to the bad old days of Soviet-US confrontation .

Take a Russian leader who accuses the US of flouting international law and threatens a new arms race. Add an American President who accuses Moscow of bullying its neighbours and who wants to deploy an anti-missile system on the outer marches of the old Soviet empire to protect them. Stir in an increasingly autocratic Kremlin that seeks to eliminate (perhaps even physically) its enemies, be they at home or in exile abroad.

A bare couple of decades ago, such ingredients added up to the old, real Cold War. History never repeats itself, Mark Twain famously remarked; at best it rhymes. Right now, however, the rhyming is becoming quite deafening.

The Soviet Union may be no more, and Russia no longer a superpower. But study the mix of circumstances, and a casual historian could be forgiven for believing a new Cold War is upon us.