The comprehensive report published by the United States intelligence community on Tuesday added tension to the already escalating relationship between Washington and Moscow, pushing it onto the verge of a conflict as bitter as the Cold War.
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The strife between the two superpowers seemed to have faded into the abyss during President Donald Trump's presidency but has returned in full force ever since President Joe Biden took office.
The report, which states that President Vladimir Putin meddled in the 2020 US election, brings the US-Russian conflict onto the international stage and overshadows the US-Chinese relationship, which was estimated to be the major source of rift and controversy in the coming years.
At the very core of the report lies the firm assertation that the Kremlin meddled in the election to undermine Biden, mainly through efforts to link the then-Democratic presidential candidate and his son Hunter to corruption.
Biden's reaction to the report was pure outrage. Deviating from his usually cautious and restrained manner of speaking. The US president not only threatened that Putin would "pay a price" for his actions but also called his Russian counterpart "a killer."
Biden's anger over Putin's efforts to sabotage his race for the White House is amplified by the Russian president's continuous crimes against critics of his regime, most recently the poison attempt of dissident Alexei Navalny and his imprisonment after returning to the federation.
Thus, even though Biden has yet to unleash the full scope of measures in his disposal, his combative rhetoric suggests the two nations are on a collision course that echoes what we unfolded during the Cold War. Putin has so far responded by recalling the ambassador and challenging Biden to a televised debate, suggesting Russia does not seek an escalation.
That's why Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi's comments praising Putin are perplexing. At this delicate juncture, the two superpowers are at, Israel should keep a low profile and constructive ambiguity.
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