It is quite a while that I say that we are now at the first stages of a new cold war.
Now my theory has been backed by Henry Kissinger and Michael Gorbachev, both actually accusing the West of excessive triumphalism versus Russia after the fall of the USSR.
In the last year there have been over 40 “close call” between Russian and US/NATO forces and next month, apparently, the 2015 Russian Defence Doctrine will identify US and NATO forces as adversary forces.
The Russians also are building an anti-NATO alliance (Shangai Co-operation alliance) which include Russia, China and a few of the ex Soviet Republics.
The flashpoints are logically Ukraine (and most of the ex soviet republics), Syria, Iran, ex Yugoslavia.
Russia is also looking at new friends between the non US aligned, such as Brasil, Venezuela, India.
The US, specially with the new Congress, will bolster the weapon sales to Ukraine and especially to the Baltic Republics.
A new field of was (in respect of the Cold War 1.0) is financial war.
The US is hitting Russia in the pocket with sanctions, low oil price and low gold price.
Russia has a long game of de-dollarising the world systems, growing the trade in non US Dollar currencies (one of the reason why the FED could rescue the US in 2008 is that the US Dollar is the world reserve currency).
Definitely Putin will not stand idle to the financial pressure as he knows that the fall of the USSR was caused mainly by financial strategies.
investorpolitico 