The United States and Russia had initially been involved in the first Cold War soon after the World War Two. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 marked the end of the Cold War. However, the recent altercations between Russia and the United States regarding issues such as the crisis in Ukraine, and the shooting down of the Malaysian plane, has raised serious pertinent issues with contemporary political analysts, international peace experts and political leaders arguing the United States is quite involved in the second Cold War with Russia.

The recent conflict between the Ukrainian national government and separatists affiliated to Russia has drawn both Russia and the United States into a contemporary conflict. According to political observers in Europe, Russia, and the United States, the recent intense fighting between the Ukrainian government forces and separate movement backs by Russia is increasingly taught as one of the major scenario of a second Cold War between the United States and Russia (Meadowcroft).

The United States has been backing the Ukrainian government and at the same time, accusing Russia of supporting the Ukrainian rebels or separates who have been demanding secession and allegiance to Russia. Furthermore, the United States has accused Russia of trying to induce war against Ukraine, a claim which Russia is denying. The US has been accusing Russia of providing military support to Ukrainian rebels which is against international sovereignty laws of trying to invade another country. The US and Russia’s interest in the Ukrainian conflict is similar to some of the altercations involving the two countries during the Cold War (Shuster).

The shooting down of the Malaysian plane brought the US and Russia into a serious disagreements. The US and other Western countries accused the Ukrainian separatists with the help of Russia of shooting down the passenger plane. While the US accused Russia of escalating the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin shrugged off the accusations and blamed the Ukrainian government and its Western allies of escalating the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. Such conflict is similar to blame games played by the USSR and the US during the Cold War era (Trenin).

In Crimea, Russia has been recently sending more and more of its troops into the disputed area. The US and NATO, and the international community in general have accused Russia of military aggregation into Ukraine territory. Russia is seeking to alienate the Crimean peninsula region from Ukraine by supporting the Ukrainian rebels. Russia has been doing this by offering economic, political, and military support to the pro-Russian separatists. On the other hand, the US and NATO has been politically and economically supporting the national government of Ukraine in Kiev. The US and NATO keep accusing Russia of fomenting the Ukraine conflict. Recently, the US and NATO slapped economic sanctions on Russia including some of Russia’s influential individuals and politicians (Shuster). However, on the other hand, Russia argues that the present pro-Western backed national government in Ukraine is fascist and dishonest. Such sanctions is evidence to indicate that the two countries are heading to second Cold War (Trenin).

In a nutshell, even if there might be no war between the two counties, the crisis can possibly change the fundamentals relations between the US and Russia and can lead to alterations in the world power balance. Russia is currently competing openly with the European Union and the United States in the new region of Eastern Europe. If the competition continues, the second round of Cold War might begin. One of the reasons being the internal cohesion in Ukraine, the conflict in Crimea, and the status of Russian ethnic groups in the newly independent countries in Eastern Europe.

Works cited
Meadowcroft, Micah. COLD WAR II? WORLD WAR III? The Spectator. 31 July 2014. Web. 28 October 2014
Shuster, Simon. In Russia, Crime without punishment. Time. 24 July 2014. Web. 28 October 2014
Trenin, Dmitri. The crisis in Crimea could lead the world into a second cold war. The Guardian. 2 March 2014. Web. 28 October 2014