A new cold war emerging?  

On July 17, 1945 the trial of the atomic bomb in the Mexican desert was successful. No doubt, president Truman of the USA and British Prime Minister Churchill were jubilant. According to Churchill, the decision to drop the bombs on Japan was taken by them at Potsdam. Two atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki-two Japanese cities-- on August 6 & 9, 1945. Soon, on August 15, 1945, the Japanese government surrendered. The British House of Commons held a session on August 16. Meanwhile Churchill's party lost the election and Clement Richard Attlee, the labour party leader, became the prime minister of UK. He paid a rich tribute to Churchill for his contribution in ensuring victory. In reply Churchill said in the House of Commons the following: "For this (successfully dropping the bombs) and many other reasons the United States stand at this moment at the summit of the world. I rejoice that this should be so. Let them act up to the level of their power and their responsibility, not for themselves but for others, for all men in all lands and then a brighter day may dawn upon human history."

Churchill's dream did not materialise. The USA could not be the sole leader of victory in the World War 2. The Soviet Union soon became a nuclear power leading to the birth of 'the cold war'. This situation continued till 1990 when the Soviet bloc collapsed. The world became unipolar where USA was the sole superpower. However, this situation is going to be short-lived as Russia seems to be re-awakening. It is no more giving unquestionable support to the western power in their actions. Meanwhile Russia has developed camaraderie with two powerful states like Iran and Turkey. In the Arab world, Saudi Arabia is no more the absolute leader as Qatar is challenging them. Moreover Saudi Arabia's involvement in the Yemen war has widened the rift in the Arab World. All these incidents indicate that the world may soon fall victim to another cold war, maybe a digital cold war.

Now let us recollect the experience of the previous cold war and the subsequent unipolar world. During the cold war, there was one great advantage that an aggrieved state could approach one or the other side, if its independence and sovereignty were threatened or a great injustice was done. After the end of the world war, a lot of former colonies gained both moral and material support mostly from the Soviet Union for achieving independence. During our liberation war in 1971, the Soviet veto in the UN Security Council helped us achieve independence quickly. Of course there is another side to the story. Both superpowers, the USA and the Soviet Union, with a view to spreading their power and influence carried out espionage and destructive activities in the most brutal and unethical ways. A lot of patriotic and democratic national leaders fell victim to the cold war and lost their lives. Patrice Lumumba of Congo, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa of Nigeria and Salvador Allende of Chile were brutally assassinated. Dr Nkruma of Ghana was banished. Those are a few of the surreptitious activities. Open support to South Vietnam by the USA and Afghanistan by the Soviet Union caused immense loss of lives and led to other subsequent complications. It is said that the Taliban issue would not have arisen if the Soviet Union had not landed its soldiers unlawfully on Afghanistan soil. As dreamt by Churchill, the USA became the sole leader of the unipolar world after 45 years of his dream. But no brighter day dawned upon the human history then.

Iraq, a sovereign and independent state and a member of the United Nations, was forcefully occupied by the USA and its allies in 2003 on the allegation of possession of weapon for mass destruction (WMD).  Subsequently the allegation was proven false and so the aggressors have admitted. This act of aggression was an absolute violation of the UN Charter. The sovereignty and democracy of the country was handed over to the people of their choice. Iraq is still burning. The kangaroo court hanged the ex-president of Iraq Saddam Hussein on the day of Eid. It is presumed that the neglected and humiliated soldiers of Saddam Hussein played a great role at creating ISIS, which is still causing havoc.

The leaders of the unipolar world started to rewrite the definition of sovereignty and democracy. In the name of protecting its own country, a powerful state now has the right to attack and grab another state. Even according to the administrative report of US president Obama, it is 'permissible' to impinge on another state's sovereignty if it is unable or unwilling to mitigate the threat emanating from its own territory. We can see the case of Pakistan and bin-Laden killing in 2011. Ever since, Pakistan has been subject of drone attack from time to time.

At one stage, the USA became very interested in bringing down autocratic government and establish democratic governments. The USA continued supporting the autocratic government of Egypt, only to withdraw support during the Arab Spring. Egypt is yet to have a pure democratic government. Gaddafi of Libya was killed but still a chaotic situation persists in Libya. Iran withstood the proxy war of the USA perpetrated through Iraq. President Saddam Hossain was annihilated by the USA. In spite of sincere efforts by Iran to remain peaceful while making friends with all countries including the USA, the latter continued to threaten Iran. Of course now, Iran has a powerful friend like Russia. Meanwhile China has become a superpower both from economic and military perspectives.

At the moment, the western world is deeply angry with Russia because of Russia's attempt for global assertion. That is why all of them have started to mass expel the Russian diplomats on the excuse of dubious spy poisoning case. Russia is most likely not going to kowtow.

After examining the situation during the cold war and subsequently in the unipolar world, it may be said for certain that a bipolar world, with less cold war mentality, is desirable.

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