[starwind]

The Second Cold War started up around 2010 and it just turned hot. I doubt it will turn into WW3 but this isn't the last proxy war the US and Russia will fight.

How do you cope?

If you're like me and sleep better with fewer unknowns, understand Russia's and the US's military capabilities—I highly recommend Russia's Military Revival—and read about some modern nuclear strategy. We've evolved past "fire everything at every population center." Matthew Kroenig has publish some good stuff, and elucidates ideas like "warhead sinks."

If you don't sleep better the more you know, get real into sports and another hobby–something you enjoy you can talk about with others that occupies your time. Most people can get by just fine without following the news.

You can manage your own anxiety.

[dragonwriter]

> The Second Cold War started up around 2010

It started with, in response to, or not later than, the 1999 NATO-Yugoslavia War, and was widely recognized to have started at or by that time.

That's literally what the (clearly, failed) famous 2009 “reset button" was about.

[starwind]

Eh, I can see where you're coming from but Russia wasn't a serious challenger in the 2000s—their military was a complete mess until the end of the 2000s, and even then they didn't perform that well in Georgia, that's why I peg the start date later

[dragonwriter]

> their military was a complete mess until the end of the 2000s

Their military remains a complete mess, but that's largely irrelevant to the existence of a Cold War, which doesn't have to rely on both sides engaging in direct military confrontation with proxies of the other. One side doing their bit primarily by sponsoring, aiding, and instigating asymmetric threats against the other is a way a Cold War can happen, especially when it is shielded from many of the direct consequences that would otherwise be imposed by a large nuclear arsenal and a UN veto.

[starwind]

Yeah, the definition of a cold war is that the two parties don't come directly to blows. But I feel like there needs to be a credible challenge, and Russia's military is today light years ahead of where they were when they invaded Georgia (even though, yeah, it still sucks). I just don't think their sabre rattling had anyone in the US government all that worried through the first decade of the 2000s—the US and Russia collaborated on several counter-terrorism efforts

[klyrs]

With nukes in play, one needn't have a competent military to participate in a cold war.