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16 September 2024

The 12 elements of cold war 2.0

Graeme Dobell

The contours of a new and dangerous era are in place. The world has gone from a chilly peace to a new cold war.

Cold war 2.0 has rhymes from version 1.0, yet the origin stories emphasise the differences.

The 20th century cold war was bred by victory and failure, a child of war and depression; ideology was its heart as two secular religions—communism and democracy—fought Europe’s last ‘religious’ war.

The new cold war carries less ideological baggage, born from decades of peace in Europe and Asia and a wonderful period of economic and scientific achievement.

Version 2.0 draws on the successes of globalisation in the post-cold war space, a golden age. But that warmth has faded and turned icy as it veers away from borderless optimism to revive the contest of great powers.

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