# Will the predicted Cold War II bring about more instability and violence?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-predicted-cold-war-ii-bring-about-more-instability-and-violence/718624>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [April 27, 2015, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-predicted-cold-war-ii-bring-about-more-instability-and-violence/718624 "2015-04-27T07:25:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-predicted-cold-war-ii-bring-about-more-instability-and-violence/718624/21 "2015-04-27T15:19:26Z")

</div>

> [@Alessan](#):
>
> If landmass is so important, why isn’t Canada - the second-largest country in the world - a great power?

We are, we’re just too polite to brag about it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-predicted-cold-war-ii-bring-about-more-instability-and-violence/718624/22 "2015-04-27T16:36:12Z")

</div>

> [@adaher](#):
>
> Israel has nukes and modern weapons. Not a superpower. Regional power, definitely. Russia is a regional power, and not even the most powerful country in their region.
> 
> As for allies, Russia has no allies that would come to their aid militarily other than Belarus. Which might as well just be called Russia, because Belarus is in no way independent in any meaningful sense other than their official status.

Not really. The economic model in Belarus is very different than in Russia. (Russia is a capitalist country run by a government of the center-right, Belarus still has a largely centrally planned and state-run economy, and is the closest thing to a Soviet remnant left). On foreign policy, Lukashenko officially went on record criticizing the Russian intervention in Donetsk & Lugansk.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-predicted-cold-war-ii-bring-about-more-instability-and-violence/718624.md?page=1)