America's new defense secretary, Robert Gates, gets it. One Cold War really was quite enough. What he seems to overlook is how his boss, Shrub, is successfully leading the world into a very real, second Cold War.
The key is in a remark Gates made. "We all face many common problems and challenges that must be addressed in partnership with other countries, including Russia." Cold Wars aren't short of partnerships, they're built on them. They come with names like NATO, and SEATO, and Warsaw Pact and they're typically built around one lead partner and a bunch of followers.
The United States under George Bush likes to advance its unilateralism through partnerships, sometimes called "coalitions of the willing" meaning little nations willing to sign on to comply with the lead partner's adventures, if only to lend the appearance of legtimacy where none exists.
Cold War is fueled by menacing secrecy and distrust that are given life by the formation of alliances or partnerships that can leave those states outside the alliance fearful and insecure to the point of explosive paranoia. Go through European history for the last three centuries and you'll see how these things turn out.
The way to avoid a Cold War is through open multilateralism, not strategic partnerships. America is going in the wrong direction if it really wants to avoid a Cold War. We're not even noticing just how fast the walls are going back up.
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