Cold War Nostalgia

It wasn't supposed to be this way. The Cold War was supposed to have ended 11 years ago. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent collapse of European communism convinced us of the arrival of a "New World Order"--which promised to create a world where the United States and Russia could achieve unparalleled levels of cooperation and where arms races would give way to capitalist competition. However, the events of the past few weeks have made it suddenly feel a lot more like 1971 than 2001.

Russia is fuming about the Bush administration's plans to continue to develop its National Missile Defense (NMD). The system would intercept any missile fired at the United States, but it would also nullify the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty--one of the cornerstones of U.S.-Soviet stability during the second half of the Cold War. Although U.S. officials claim that the NMD is strictly for protection against such "rogue states" as North Korea and Iraq, allies and enemies are skeptical, and Moscow fears that the U.S. is scheming toward unilateral global supremacy.

Then came the revelations about a high-level FBI agent who has been accused of spying for the Soviet Union and Russia for the past twenty-five years. The accused spy, Robert P. Hanssen, is also believed to have informed the Soviets about one of America's most prized Cold War secrets--a surveillance tunnel under the Soviet Union's embassy in Washington.

In addition, Russia has begun to warm to its former Cold War allies. One alliance that played a key role during the Cold War was revived last week as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong signed an agreement on strategic cooperation, giving Moscow its strongest ally yet in Southeast Asia.

If you feel tempted to dismiss this combination of events as sheer coincidence, then consider the people running our country: They are the vestigial remains of the Cold War era. Secretary of State Colin Powell is a Cold War general; National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice is a Cold War scholar; and Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld are Cold War politicians. Their political decisions thus far, as well as their indifference to Moscow's reaction to them, are all too reminiscent of Cold War strategy.

It should not be surprising that these former Cold Warriors are suffering from a bout of Cold War nostalgia; after all, their entire careers were staked upon their being able to think and act under Cold War conditions. The New World Order of globalization and international cooperation is an alien world to them; they would have been much more comfortable in Ronald Reagan's Cabinet than in George W.'s. However, whether they realize it or not, their nostalgia risks undoing 11 years of reconciliation with our former rivals.

Many have dismissed the possibility of a renewed Cold War arms race because Russia is no longer the military superpower that it once was. But such overconfidence in U.S. primacy has already been contradicted by recent developments. In response to Washington's uncompromising stance on the NMD, Russia has begun to test-launch its intercontinental ballistic missiles and it has warned that it will equip its hard-to-detect Topol-M missile with multiple warheads if Washington goes ahead with the NMD system. Although it can scarcely afford to pay its soldiers and although its armed forces are barely a carcass of the old Soviet military machine, Russia can still act like a superpower when it wants to, and it expects to be treated as one.

And in the event of a new Cold War, the U.S. may have more to fear than Russia. The support of the allies that Washington took for granted during the Cold War may not be automatic this time around.

In the NMD confrontation, almost every major American "ally," except for Britain, has sided with Russia and vehemently condemned the proposed missile shield. Even Canada--the nation that has not disagreed with the U.S. on anything since the Alaskan Border dispute of 1903--has publicly declared its opposition to the NMD.

Meanwhile, Russia has graciously offered to share its missile defense technology with the rest of Europe (NATO allies included), opening the possibility of creating a missile shield for the entire continent. Such an agreement would essentially destroy NATO, and divide the world along Cold War-type lines. But this time around it would not be Eastern Bloc vs. the West; it would be Europe vs. the United States.

While some would have a hard time believing that the Western alliance could become undone, it is not inconceivable. In the old days, other countries--especially our allies--would have tolerated America's overzealous security schemes because, next to the Soviets, the American way sounded pretty good. Those days are over--the Soviet threat is gone. The death of communism, combined with the rise of American arrogance, has made us less attractive as an ally.

We do not need a National Missile Defense system. What we need is the reinvigoration of America's commitment to the New World Order it helped create. Washington has strayed from its task of "making the world safe for democracy"--a task that included fostering friendship with Russia. As a result, our reputation has been sullied and our allies estranged. Our president's main foreign policy objective should be to repair that tarnished reputation and rebuild our alliances--not to recreate the uncomfortable tension of a bygone era.

Nader R. Hasan '02 is a government concentrator in Lowell House. His column appears on alternate Wednesdays.