Could Russia win the new Cold War?

When John Frankenheimer directed the film, "The Manchurian Candidate," its setting was the post-Korean War when Communism was taking root in Asia, and with prodding by the USSR, the rest of the world. It was a time when influence peddling became widespread and the concept of "brain washing" introduced.

Since then, Russia has been reduced to a confederacy, state-run corporations privatized, oligarchs created, money to be laundered and with its new president, an ex-KGB agent, a more insidious version of the old Soviet Union has emerged.

What better opportunity awaits this new country other than looking westward toward the United States - concealing their newfound wealth in real estate investments and a method to destroy the country from within, sabotaging its democracy?

Are we witnessing a sequel to the 56-year-old film with a revised name, "The Bolshevik Candidate," succeeding beyond all measure in a new Cold War that now Russia could win?

James D. Cook

Schaumburg