Conclusion

Abstract

The conclusion compiles the four examined dimensions together into an argument that characterizing the current US-Russia relationship, despite clear cooling, as a New Cold War is of little analytical value because such significant differences exist. Further to this, it is argued that the propensity of key decision-makers in both the US and Russia to fall back into ‘Cold War-era’ thinking leads to suboptimal policy-making and blinds them to more prudent grand strategies. For Russia, antagonizing a superpower—one which remains the unipole—is not a smart long-term strategy, while for the US, being fixated on a declining power such as Russia blinds their preparation for China’s rise. Nevertheless, because the current US-Russia relationship does not have the same structural, ideological, or technological drivers as the Cold War, coupled with the fact that the psychological dimension is the easiest dimension to change, the prevalent doomsaying that characterizes many analyses of the current US-Russia relationship may prove to be wide of the mark, come 5 to 10 years.