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Comment by westpfelia | Hacker News Reader

I feel like were entering the 3rd phase of the cold war. Except now instead of political ideology guiding our hate/intentions its just hate.

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I really think that social media and the broader internet has accelerated the collapse of the old world order. The institutions that were owned or partly controlled by a small minority no longer have as much control over national narratives.

There will be a period of chaos as the old world and new world duke it out.

Except that we are heading toward 3 antagonistic blocks. A western democratic capitalist block. A Chino-Russian illiberal capitalist block, and an islamist theocratic block. With additional internal tensions within these blocks like in the good old days of the cold war.

My only hope is that I will not end up in the second one.

Or we were too relaxed during the 2nd phase, until Russia annexed Crimea, Iran kept sponsoring their terrorist organisations, China started building military bases in the South China Sea to intimidate its neighbours and it's general secretary went on to hint at annexing Tawian by force. I'm not surprised that the current US administration is taking action against China. This should have started in 2014.

It felt like we had the means for a peaceful future this century, but then everyone starts acting like toddlers who aren't allowed unlimited sweets.

Relaxed, or distracted by waging 7 wars in MENA?

Irony.

Meanwhile, the US was entirely passive, didn't operate bases anywhere and didn't invade anything. Totally relaxed.

And definitely didn't station its own or NATO military forces and installations on the border with Russia and in Turkey in direct contravention of agreements with Russia.

No sir, they definitely didn't do that before Russia countered by doing the same.

Nope. We have always been at war with Eurasia. Move along citizen.

My country used to have a direct border with the USSR. We'd much rather have NATO defensive instalations and troops on our territory, rather than Russian tanks and little green men with guns. The last time that happened we had 50 years of communism, the USSR took away several parts of our territory, effectively plundered our country's resources and invaded neighbouring countries in order to "restore order".

That's great, but it's irrelevant.

They broke an agreement by doing this, then condemned Russia for reacting in the same way.

It's simple hypocrisy.

This level of one sidedness scares me. It's just as easy for a Russian/Chinese/Iranian/etc citizen to say the same about US.

I'd say it's easier, if you take into account the ludicrous number of military bases the US has all around the world, the constant involvement in one or more wars, the infinite sabre rattling with North Korea, the unconditional support for what ever the hell Israel decides to do.

I don't think US is more or less naturally inclined to be an international bully, but they have the capacity and actually do it on a scale no other country can since the USSR dissolved.

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