Occasionally we forget about the 40-old-year Cold War between the West as well as the prior Soviet Union. We forget about the espionage, sabotage (on both sides), the secret and proxy wars, and yet the obvious arms race. Since 1991 a variety of public indifference to the antics in Russia has developed, despite its continuing provocative position, its annexation of Crimea, and its nuclear saber rattling. Sure, the European Union sanction as well as America Russia in Ukraine for its activities, however there’s little public outcry.

Now Russia has (supposedly) hacked the unclassified e-mail system of the Joint Chiefs and its about 2,500 supporting workers. The somewhat small news we’ve is that Russia is the “prime suspect,” and the strike was exceptionally “advanced” and seems to be the work of a state or state-sponsored group. We actually just have three parts of advice to date: There was a complex spear phishing attack; the violation changed just the Joint Chiefs’ unclassified system; and it was “tracked” to Russia. Taken in isolation this strike looks rather inconsequential. But it is only the latest in a chain of events, such as the hacks this past year in the White House and State Department, along with the other Russian hack on the Defense Department an only four months past. Really, it seems to be part and parcel of a broader strategy toward a Brand New Cold War. The sole difference is the fact that the old “deterrence” strategy will not work, particularly against cyberattacks.

If we should set the Joint Chiefs hack into circumstance, we ought to do so within tactical outlook and a more extensive explanation. First, the standing within the international system in Russia is just one of a waning power. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has steadily decreased on most metrics, including population growth, economic strength, and military capability. Such a reversal of visibility locations Russia in what some might call a “realm of losses”–a point at which a leader finds herself in a disaster and becomes more risk-acceptant to try and recover her former outstanding standing. Russia is in the position of attempting to win back what she had and so is prone to participate in escalatory and high-risk behaviour.

We have to remember that influence and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s view are very significant. In a nutshell, he’s a Bolshevik. A Bolshevik must use everything at his disposal and which includes misrepresentation, tries weaken one’s adversary to falsify reality, and escalate battles to the extreme.