Another Front in Cold War II, Part III:

From Ukraine to Georgia to Syria

As many may be aware, Russia recently utilized new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missiles (the Oreshnik or Hazel Tree missiles were equipped with conventional warheads, for now) into Ukraine as a show of force to teach the “reckless West” a lesson in the power of the Russian military and how the Vladimir Putin regime is no longer in the mood to back down from threats made by the American Empire. Of course, the American media and officials have deemed this launch as unacceptable while failing to acknowledge their own culpability in the situation in which we find ourselves, and this includes: the United States’ insistence on waging war against Russia through proxy and expanding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) satellite states throughout Europe (ironic).

While Russia and Ukraine continue to fire drones at one another, Ukrainian Dictator Volodymyr Zelensky will be receiving a final $750 million, which the Joe Biden administration does not want to let go to waste (Congress already passed this bipartisan support to continue waging war against Russia) for anti-drone systems, antipersonnel landmines, High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), and possibly Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS have now been approved for use by the Ukrainian military to attack deep within Russian territory). All of this is to say that Cold War II continues to envelop the entire world in a nightmare move that could lead to nuclear annihilation, though Zelensky has shown some interest in negotiating with incoming President Donald Trump by potentially agreeing to cede parts of Donetsk and Luhansk to Russia in exchange for Ukraine’s membership into NATO (and possibly adding Ukraine to the list of nuclear-armed states).

However, there are two other fronts in Cold War II that could, if they get out of hand, develop into another Ukraine-like situation: Syria and Georgia (the Eurasian and Caucasus region state, not the state in the southeastern United States). Although I would say that Cold War II began in 2014 with the American-Russo conflict over Ukraine and Crimea and the “freedom of navigation” patrols to intimidate China into relinquishing control over the South China Sea, one could make the argument for it starting with the Russo-Georgian War in 2008. In this conflict, Russia defended the breakaway province of South Ossetia after Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili invaded the territory to force it back into compliance (he also cracked down on the separatists in Abkhazia, which had declared independence from Georgia many years earlier). The George W. Bush administration was outraged that Russia would dare to interfere with its plans to bring Georgia into the sphere of influence of NATO (though it did not act in the same way that the Barack Obama and Biden administrations did in Ukraine), but by 2014, Georgia signed an association agreement with the European Union (EU), signifying that the country was moving away from Russia.

Fast forward to today, and those same pro-Russia and pro-West factions are battling for control of the country. In fact, after the Russia-leaning Georgian Dream party (it has historically been in favor of EU membership) was declared the winner in the October 26 election (voters still presumably thought that the party would move toward EU membership), claims that the election was rigged erupted into protests (opinion polls favored the position of Georgia moving closer to the EU and away from Russia).

This seems to be a similar situation to the early stages of the 2014 Maidan Revolution (Revolution of Dignity), where protesters, backed by the United States, occupied Independence Square in Kiev and stormed the Ukrainian Parliament and ousted democratically-elected President Viktor Yanukovych, who refused to sign an association deal with the EU. The Georgian government, like Yanukovych, reneged on the EU membership process (at least temporarily) after the EU Parliament condemned the results of the most recent parliamentary election that saw the Georgian Dream party remain in power.

President Salome Zourabichvili called for new elections and is out there protesting on the streets, and she has even refused to step down because the parliament that formed is said to be illegitimate (Georgian presidents are selected by the legislature). It seems like she may be playing into the hands of the United States and the EU, as she vetoed a law, under the guise of increasing free speech and association, that would have required non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to register as “foreign agents” if their foreign funding was greater than twenty percent. As some may be aware, the United States often utilizes NGOs to help destabilize countries and bring down unfriendly regimes in favor of ones that fit into the American Empire’s agenda (like what happened in Ukraine).

Will the most recent protests in Georgia, which are almost certainly supported by the United States and NATO (typical color revolution situation), be an excuse for Russia to again militarily intervene in one of its former Soviet republics? Will the Biden administration announcing the suspension of its strategic partnership with Georgia affect the incoming Trump administration?

Syria is another place that has ramped up with cold war activity in recent days, as American-designated terrorist organization and “insurgent” group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS is an insurgent group because it is bad, but the American-supported groups are good and are instead referred to as “rebels”), which includes what used to be Al-Nusra Front, has captured the country’s second largest city, Aleppo (it was the largest city until 2021). The Syrian government under President Bashar al-Assad and the Russian military have reacted by conducting several airstrikes, and Iran has pledged to assist Assad in retaking the city and the other 30% of the country that is still under the control of Turkey- and United States-backed groups.

What complicates the issue further is the fact that the Obama administration started funding, arming, and training rebel groups in 2014, and the destabilization of the country helped bring about the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (not only did the United States weaken Assad’s regime, but it also overthrew Iraq’s government, ushering in the easy expansion of ISIS). Additionally, Obama’s funding of rebel groups actually assisted al-Qaeda and provided weapons to the organization (claimed to have been unwittingly). The mixed al-Qaeda and non-al-Qaeda groups forming into the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have largely failed to deliver the results of an Assad-free Syria, but another troubling factor is that the primary group within the SDF is the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist organization by NATO member Turkey (or Türkiye to distinguish it from the North American fowl largely eaten on Thanksgiving). So, this is a case where a NATO ally is actually undermining the rebellion efforts by allying with the Syrian National Army, which is fighting both the Assad regime and Kurdish-led forces that are supported by the United States (basically a bunch of infighting between rebel groups). The United States is occupying a portion of northeast Syria with approximately 900 troops, just in case ISIS once again rears its ugly head (it is really just an excuse to keep troops there, and if Assad were permitted to retake control of the country, ISIS would no longer be something to worry about).

As a thought experiment, will the United States military be forced to commit to holding HTS back from making grounds in Syria? After all, HTS includes former al-Qaeda affiliates (like Al-Nusra Front), and although HTS officially cut ties with al-Qaeda, could you not see the United States government using the territorial gains by a former al-Qaeda group as an excuse to further commit American troops for battle?

The situation in Syria has been a cold war between the United States and Russia for several years, and if the fighting intensifies again (a mostly-held ceasefire from 2020 had been in place), the United States may be tempted to intervene like it almost always does. This would mean that American troops may be once again arming and training rebels to fight a government backed by Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah (another proxy war). This and the protests in Georgia may open or reopen another set of fronts in Cold War II that have the potential to escalate into something much deadlier. We already have a cold war front in Ukraine. Do we really need more wars?

Thank you for reading, and please check out my book, The Global Bully, and website.

Please also feel free to check out the first two parts of the Cold War II series and other standalone articles on topics that you may not be familiar with:

Another Front in Cold War II, Part I: Is There More Behind the Scenes of the Fighting in Sudan?

Another Front in Cold War II, Part II: A Look at Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso

Will We Move from Cold War II to World War III: An Update on Global Events

An Update on the Situation in Niger and the Replacement of American Troops with Russian Ones