At risk of sounding like a conspiracy theory enthusiast, I have noticed a recent revival of Cold-War-eqsue feuds reminiscent of a past era many people thought was behind us.
It seems to me that in looking at the big picture from a timeline perspective, the cessation of the Cold War was simply due to economic conditions of that time (partly due to technological limitations IMO e.g. The Star Wars Project and its response in Russia) and much of the same philosophies that sparked and fueled the original conflict(s) still exist.
With the advent of groups such as the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation), and increasing tensions with the U.S. and China (Hacking issues, Globalization issues), Russia (Snowden, LGBT), the Middle East and Arab Nations (Egypt, Syria, occupations, protests, etc) – it seems that the worldviews haven’t changed much since the Cold War Era and it is still a contest of “him vs him”.
These events all allude to escalating differences between the nations that will hopefully subside peacefully.
The realization and cooperation of achieving common goals and identifying and understanding our “human purpose” is of great importance. Until this is realized, we will always be in a circular endless loop of preparation for war, war and recovery.
(Addendum: this is starting to sound a little like 1984, “at war with eastasia, at peace with eurasia, at peace with eastasia, at war with eurasia..” 
).
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Defense_Initiative
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Cooperation_Organisation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberwarfare_in_China
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalization
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_economic_reform
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Russia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four
human purpose machine 