Second Cold War

The Second Cold War, Cold War II, or the New Cold War are terms that refer to heightened geopolitical tensions in the 21st century. They have been used to describe tense relations between the United States and China and between the United States and Russia – the successor state of the Soviet Union, which led the Eastern Bloc during the original Cold War.

The terms are sometimes used to describe tensions in multilateral relations. Some commentators have used them as a comparison to the original Cold War, while others have discouraged their use to refer to any current tensions.