Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, has cancelled an Oct. 19 visit to France over a comment by French President Francois Hollande.
It's being reported that Hollande characterized at least some Syrian national forces' conduct at the recent Battle of Aleppo as a "war crime."
The purpose of the cancelled visit was to assist in the inauguration of a Russian Orthodox church near the Eiffel Tower. Some Russian foreign policy experts are likening current hostilities between France and Russia as reminiscent of the Cold War.
This comes on the heels of Russia threatening the United States should it attack Syrian nationalist forces within Syria. Reportedly, Russian military elements would directly attack U.S. service personnel, according to published reports, should they intervene to assist Syrian rebels.
The recent tensions have prompted some analysts, throughout the globe, to speculate about possible larger military implications between the U.S. and Russia.
In my opinion, the world has arrived at a dangerous place. Though Russia is not the great power the former Soviet Union was back in the 1980s and before, it is nonetheless a power that could contribute to a third world war. Being a veteran of the Cold War, who served in Europe as a soldier in the 1980s, I recall the dread that potential hostilities between the U.S. and the USSR gave to the world at large. Why? Because no one -- no one -- wins in a thermonuclear showdown.
It was a great relief to my generation when the former Soviet Union collapsed and the fingers came off the red buttons in Eastern Europe and North America. Nothing is worth a Third World War, Nothing. Despite claims to the contrary by radical commentators and self-interested groups, the end of the world would actually not benefit anyone in any way, and one of the main purposes of government in the modern era (be it government in either nation) is to avoid just such a possibility.
Brinksmanship is a poor substitution for foreign policy, no matter whom is at question.
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