Cold War II Has Arrived Full Force: "Cold War II took on a deadly cast with the Ukrainian devastation... . What can we learn from the 45 years of the Cold War I struggle?...".

• Author: Bresler, Robert J.
• Position: STATE OF THE NATION

AS VLADIMIR PUTIN began his brutal war against Ukraine, alarm bells went off in the West. A new Cold War was emerging, more complex and challenging than before. China, Russia, and Iran had shown their teeth for some time. However, this Cold War II took on a deadly cast with the Ukrainian devastation and horror before our eyes. What can we learn from the 45 years of the Cold War I struggle?--a great deal, I believe.

The Truman Administration learned from its early mistakes and successfully constructed the architecture to pursue Cold War I. The Korean War, a signature moment, contains lessons for the Ukrainian War.

Do not tell your enemy what you will not do. In June 1950, with the blessing and support of the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin, North Korea launched a military invasion of South Korea. Previously, Secretary of State Dean Acheson and Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the Army commander in Japan, signaled publicly that South Korea was not within the American defense perimeter. U.S. occupation forces had left South Korea early in 1950, and Congress had delayed military aid. Just as Pres. Joe Biden had assured Putin we would not intervene in Ukraine, the Truman Administration had publicly declared what we would not do. Both presidents rued the day.

Separating vital interests from peripheral interests is inordinately complex. Truman's decision to intervene in support of South Korea, supported by all his senior advisers, reflected an immediate realization of that complexity. Leaving certain allies in limbo, such as South Korea, yet protecting others with binding treaties is a line not drawn in the sand, but water. American credibility and its willingness to defend vital interests in Japan and NATO were at stake in Korea. Abandoning one ally, no matter the legal understanding, unnerves the others. Truman and Acheson understood that immediately and considered a failure in Korea unthinkable. Should Ukraine not receive continuous support from the U.S., United Kingdom, France, and Germany, how would the new Eastern European NATO members regard the sturdiness of that alliance? Such economic and military assistance must be sustained and effective, as it was in Korea.

Bring as many allies into the fight as possible. Acheson persuaded Truman to ask for a United Nations Security Council Resolution to demand a North Korean withdrawal and summon UN members to aid South Korean defense. With the Soviets having walked out of the Security Council over the refusal...