I [Worldtraveller]agree with the thesis that “the Cold War never ended.” On all sides is my take.
In the 90s, I actually thought that the Cold War ended in 1991, but it seems that Kari, Egon Krenz and you believe that it did not:
Egon Krenz still takes an interest in politics. And still supports Moscow. “After weak presidents like Gorbachev and Yeltsin, it is a great fortune for Russia that it has [President Vladimir] Putin.” He insists the Cold War never ended, but instead is “being fought now with different methods.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49971599
We in the West might say that the Cold War ended in 1991, but the mentality of the Mongolian conquest is so deeply embedded in Russian structures that they continue in the old style. In other words, here we have Cold War 2.0, but in Russia it is just a continuation of the original version.
In between the collapse of the USSR and this "new" Cold War, there has only been war. Hot wars.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999.
Desert Shield/Desert Storm in Iraq (1990-1991)
War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
2nd War in Iraq (2003-2011)
Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (2004)
Somali Civil War (2009–present)
Military intervention in Libya -- NATO-led air and naval attacks during the civil war (2011)
Syrian civil war (with US troops still in Syria today, and been fired on)
And, of course, Russia and other "players" were involved in some of these. So to say Cold War v. 1.0 ended with the dissolution of the USSR, and Cold War v. 2.0 is only a few years old seems a rhetorical sleight of hand.
Looks like the seeming hiatus between v. 1.0 and v. 2.0 was filled with war, and war and war.
In parallel, the US public debt stood at about 5 trillion USD 22 years ago, and now is ready to tip over into 34 trillion USD, a difference between 2000 and today -- only decades -- of 29 trillion USD. One may argue definitions, but a generalized view suggested there hasn't been a true hiatus in war -- call it what one will -- just as that "peace dividend" under Clinton simply evaporated.
Huntington would call such a "clash of civilizations." Plural. Surely seems so, and all tastefully seasoned with corruption aplenty.