This is not a cold war - Fareed Zakaria

We are not entering a new cold war. And if we do, the second time will be farce. Russia is a much smaller part of the world than it was when it launched the first one. In the late 1940s, the Soviet Union had the world's largest army and comprised between 15% and 20% of global GDP. Today Russia has a much smaller armed force and makes up a bit more than 2% of global GDP. If there is to be a period of tension between Russia and the west, the outcome is predetermined. [Dear Fareed: with MORE nuclear arsenal in stock, I am not sure the outcome is as predetermined as you would like to have us believe.]

But history doesn't repeat itself. It only seems to do so to people who don't know the details. We're in the 21st century and it will not look like the 19th or 18th centuries. Our problems will be different. We live in times of extraordinary prosperity (more broadly shared across the globe than ever before) and yet filled with perils - from terrorism to climate change. It doesn't scare me, but it does make me wish we had better leaders. [Just a matter of overlooking details - you write of 18th and 19th century - and skip over the last century. Another jarring omission is that while USSR melted away, under Putin a leaner, meaner Russia is emerging to confront and check its former nemesis NATO. Also, you failed to justify NATO in a unipower scenario.]