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R ussia and the West agree on very little these days. But they seem to have found one solid point of accord: Their current relations are the worst that they have been since the end of the Cold War. U.S. President Donald Trump says that they are at a dangerous low.1 Russian President Vladimir Putin agrees that relations have gotten worse in the last year.2 German Chancellor Angela Merkel believes Putin is already fighting a new cold war and is trying to reconstitute the Soviet Union.3 The 2017 U.S. National Security Strategy asserts that Russia seeks to reduce U.S. influence in the world globally, create a rift between the United States and its allies and partners, and interfere in the domestic political affairs of countries around the world.4 Both sides also agree that this new cold war is potentially extremely damaging, given each side's nuclear arsenal and well-established capabilities for international action. The original Cold War, which some today look back on with nostalgia, was a time of deep strategic uncertainty, costly proxy wars, and extraordinary peril. The ending of the Cold War without a nuclear exchange did, to a degree, reflect effective * For Armenia and Belarus, the question was phrased "remain in the Collective Security Treaty Organization" as they are already member states. ** Volunteered response.

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