A new cold war?

When top diplomats warn of the outbreak of a third world war, they do so with the hope of being credited with having foreseen the danger.

Russia and America may have enough weaponry in their arsenals to end humanity. But they are not seeking a violent confrontation. This is 2016, not 1939.

However, there are some historical precedents for the current state of international affairs. The ongoing conflict in Syria has some similarities to the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939.

The most apt comparison, however, is to the Cold War. It appears Russian President Vladmir Putin may be longing for a renewal of the worldwide competition with the U.S. that characterized that time period.

In the late 1940s, the Soviet Union tried to expand the sphere of communist influence via subversive activities in Turkey, Iran, Greece and France. The United States might have erred by not fighting to keep Poland outside the communist camp, but President Harry Truman learned the lesson and instituted a policy of containment. The tensions between the U.S. and Soviet Union lasted for more than four decades, but a direct military conflict between the two superpowers never erupted.

Will the U.S. and other NATO nations accept Syria becoming a Russian sphere of influence, just as Eastern Europe was a Soviet sphere of influence? And will the U.S. institute of policy of containment to halt the spread of Russian influence? Is U.S. President Barack Obama up to the task? Or will the can be kicked down the road to the next president-

In principle, Israel has no interest in seeing a new cold war. In the original Cold War, the Soviet Union was an Arab patron. The U.S. provided substantial assistance to Israel, but this assistance was not full-blown due to America's oil interests in the Middle East.

In a new cold war, would Israel be able to maintain positive ties with both the U.S. and Russia?

The time has come for Israeli academic institutions to conduct studies on what the implications of a new cold war would be for Israel.

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