The Cool War

A new Russian ideology has emerged in the 2000s that integrates information warfare at all levels: political, military-strategic, and economic, and includes the use of nuclear forces for signaling. That ideology also demands the subjugation of Ukraine and Western Europe. The United States and NATO partners were slow to react effectively to this state of affairs, but as the crises worsened they improvised a series of responses that now hold Russia in check. This work provides a detailed analysis of the dimensions of the present crisis, specifically related to the movements of Russian, American, French, and British nuclear forces. There is an entire world of nuclear force manipulation and signaling that the public does not see, and the frequency of this activity greatly exceeds that of similar activity during the Cold War. “The Cool War” argues that signaling using strategic nuclear forces, especially by the Putin regime, has gone on long before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and that it has a specific context in Russian ideology and strategy.

Sean Maloney is a professor of history at the Royal Military College of Canada and served as the historical advisor to the Chief of the Land Staff during the war in Afghanistan. From 2001 to 2014, Dr. Maloney focused nearly exclusively on the war against the Al Qaeda movement and its allies. After returning to the Royal Military College, Dr. Maloney refocused on the Cold War. His previous book, Emergency War Plan, received the Air Force Historical Foundation’s Air Power Book Prize in 2024.