Five Cold War Lessons

Military strength matters, as do allies, say Niall Ferguson and Condoleezza Rice of Stanford’s Hoover Institution

Noing too far, but the two do seem now to have little space for cooperation and rather more for conflict.

The greatest difference with the first cold war is, of course, the origin of this rivalry. After the second world war, the two superpowers settled quickly into confrontation. They had little in common. The Soviet Union was a military giant but an economic recluse. China, conversely, was brought into the international economy after 1978. For 30 years it benefited from integration and access to foreign capital and know-how. Along the way, it acquired an aptitude for indigenous innovation, not just intellectual property theft.