Stratfor: Cold War II has officially begun...

Many here know my undying devotion to Stratfor -- that independent geopolitical analysis group made up of former CIAers and Intel analysts.

So, what they say carries much weight with me. I think most of us would say this has begun soon after 9/11, but Stratfor is officially declarining the start of Cold War II this year.

And this time around, it will be waged somewhat differently.

For one, Europe is no longer solidly behind the West. Secondly, and perhaps more disturbingly, Ideology really isn't the basis for the conflict -- it's who has the control of energy in the Mideast and the Caucuses.

The United States — considering that it has the luxury of waging a geopolitical assault against Russia from afar — is not bothered by the lack of European involvement. But the European position is not tenable in the long run. Europe’s geography — and the fact that, unlike during the original Cold War, there isn’t an iron curtain in place — will force the Europeans to jump in or at least choose sides.

Good read. I would wager that the first salvos of the Cold War was not the conflict in Georgia. Instead, I'd say I think the official start was when Putin assassinated Litvinenko and quickly took control of the state media. That was soon followed by the ouster of BP from Russia.

Originally posted by behindthescenes
That was soon followed by the ouster of BP from Russia.

That pricked my ears up. Do you have any more info on that?

Originally posted by mythatsabigprobe

Originally posted by behindthescenes
That was soon followed by the ouster of BP from Russia.

That pricked my ears up. Do you have any more info on that?

Sorry, I overstated it. BP is in a joint venture with the Russian gov't there, but there's been continuous infighting, and BP is pretty much neutered of power in the relationship.

Here's the latest.