In this article Cunningham makes an excellent argument that the Cold War was just the continuation of hostility toward the Soviet Union, now Russia. I have argued this many times in my commentaries (see this, this, and this). That is why I make the Russian Revolution as the single most important event of the 20th century. The majority of the policies of the Western capitalist nations after this event in 1917 were a direct reaction to this event. The only disagreement I have with Cunningham is this statement of his:
Leaders like President Franklin Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill appeared to be genuinely committed to defeating Nazi Germany.I disagree with the inclusion of Churchill. According to James M. Burns and his biography of FDR, this was certainly true of Roosevelt who had developed an early antipathy to Germany in his childhood while attending a school in Germany for a short time and on other visits to Germany. However Churchill was an arch-imperialist of the old school, and he was of the British capitalist ruling class clique that wanted to crush the Soviet Union. From the beginning he vigorously opposed opening a second front in western Europe to take the pressure off of the Soviet troops. FDR along with Stalin wanted this to happen in 1942, but because of his opposition it didn't happen until June of 1944.
Now with Russia refusing to go along with the US in its plans for world domination, the US ruling class along with the rest of the capitalists in the Empire (NATO countries) have reactivated the old Cold War.