Hat den Zweiten Weltkrieg begonnen

Chinese hackers at it again ..Russia, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Hamas, Houties, Hezbola, and of course China The weaponization of illegal immigration, constant hacking of western infrastructure and corporations, terrorism, Russian attacks ect. in Europe makes me think we’re in the cold phase of World War III I would appreciate any opinions y’all have on this

I’m not sure about WW3 at the moment. Frankly, I also don’t like saying “Cold War 2.”

Why?

Because the First Cold War never actually ended.

I think what this period is demonstrating is that, after the fall of the USSR, we did something that is part of human nature but is also a very dangerous cognitive/relational mistake: we viewed events only through our own perspective and frame of reference, rather than that of the people on the other side.

Putin and his associates never thought the Cold War ended. They believed that they had lost a battle, but not the war. They never mentally conceded to the idea of U.S., Western, or liberal dominance in the world order.

Likewise, when Communist Party of China opened relations with the West in the 1970s, they never articulated it to themselves as a concession to Western power. Rather, they viewed globalization and state-managed capitalism as necessary means of “developing the productive forces” (to borrow Marxist terminology) and modernizing China, precisely so that they could *reject* Western dominance and reclaim what they view as their natural position as a superpower.

Meanwhile, we in the U.S. thought we somehow “won” the 20th Century. We assumed that the former and remaining communist powers (yes, China is still communist, they still justify everything they do through an intellectually defensible interpretation of Marx, IMHO) had been defeated and would accept their loss of status.

*But they never viewed it that way at all.* They kept right on chugging along. In Russia’s case, they even kept using the very same espionage and influence operations and structures they had used under the red flag. In fact, they got considerably more advanced at it once they a) adopted and pioneered modern communications technologies and b) unshackled themselves from the ideological limitations of communism and started directing their efforts towards promoting divisive political factions from both the Left *and* Right within the West.

TLDR: We are not entering a new conflict. We are entering a new *phase* of a conflict that our adversaries never abandoned and have spent the last 30-50 years preparing for. My hope is that if we can mentally grasp this ourselves, it might spur us to revisit some of the ideological and value-laden strength that our leaders promoted in that era. Rather than the chaotic, aimless hubris and moral nihilism that has seemed to take root in the West since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Has World War Pee begun?