"Many analysts may say the world is in a new Cold War, but it isn’t," writes Odd Arne Westad in his new book, The Coming Storm: Power, Conflict and Warnings from History.
Odd Arne Westad's central claim
The single declarative line above, drawn from Westad's new book, identifies the argument at the heart of The Coming Storm: a rejection of the framing—common among "many analysts"—that current global tensions amount to a new Cold War. The source material presents that statement as Westad's explicit position; it does not elaborate his supporting evidence in the excerpt provided here.
The Coming Storm: Power, Conflict and Warnings from History
The work appears under the title The Coming Storm: Power, Conflict and Warnings from History. The passage in the source attributes the quoted judgment to Odd Arne Westad and describes the line as coming from this new book. Beyond the title and that quoted claim, the source excerpt supplied does not include further text from the volume.
How the "new Cold War" label is presented in the excerpt
The phrase "many analysts may say" is the source's own wording to characterize the public and professional discourse that Westad contests. The excerpt makes two discrete factual points: (1) there is a prevalent frame, summed as "many analysts" describing the period as a "new Cold War"; and (2) Westad, in his book, explicitly disputes that frame. The excerpt offers no further definition of the Cold War analogy or of Westad's alternative diagnosis; it records only that he rejects the label.
What this means for policymakers, analysts, and the public
Policymakers: Insofar as Westad's argument rejects a "new Cold War" framing, the claim recorded in the excerpt signals to policymakers that at least one recent book urges reconsideration of that strategic shorthand. The excerpt does not spell out policy prescriptions.
Analysts: The source frames the debate as ongoing among "many analysts" and notes Westad's contrarian stance. Analysts attuned to labels and historical analogies will find, in the excerpt, an explicit challenge to a prevailing interpretive frame.
The public: The quotation reproduced in the source invites nonexperts to recognise that disagreement exists about how to name and think about contemporary international tensions. The excerpt itself offers a succinct prompt for readers to seek Westad's fuller account in the book named.
A closing observation grounded in the excerpt
The material supplied is narrowly focused: it places one sentence in the role of thesis statement for Odd Arne Westad's The Coming Storm and contrasts it with a shorthand attributed to "many analysts." That tension—between an established label applied by some observers and the outright rejection of that label by a recent book—stands as the central fact recorded here. Readers interested in the evidence and reasoning behind Westad's rejection will need to consult The Coming Storm itself to see how, and on what historical grounds, he supports the claim.
Original story: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/bookshelf-2026-looks-awfully-like-1914/
