Cuba deal: End or revival of the Cold War?

“We can’t keep doing the same thing for five decades and expect a different result. It’s time for a new approach. We will end an outdated approach that failed to advance our interests and instead begin to normalize relations between our countries.”

These were the words spoken by President Barack Obama on Dec. 17 when he announced a new era in U.S.-Cuba relations, restoring diplomatic relations for the first time in five decades. Simultaneously, Cuban leader Raul Castro made the same announcement in Havana.

Cuba has been the second-most important symbol of the Cold War, the first one being the Berlin Wall. When the Soviet Union (USSR) installed missiles in Cuba in 1962, the U.S. and USSR came to the brink of nuclear war, marking ground zero in the Cold War.

The Berlin Wall fell 25 years ago. And now with this rapprochement, the second biggest symbol of the Cold War is being shattered, which is interpreted by many as the finalization of the Cold War. However, this development actually points at a bigger and more complicated picture. While it certainly confirms the end of the Cold War, it has also kicked up the dust of the Cold War.

First of all, the timing of the announcement was quite meaningful. Just one day before, the White House had announced that Obama would soon sign a bill to increase sanctions on the Russian economy. And the very next day, Russian President Vladimir Putin held his annual press conference, which was broadcast live by many international TV channels amid the country’s worst economic crisis since the 1968 default.

Moreover, Putin has recently been trying to warm up Russia’s relations with its Cold War ally. Last summer he visited Cuba during his Latin America tour when he excused 90...