A new NAM for the new norm India must seek nonaligned partnerships which can work together outside the influence of the U.S., China and Russia From all accounts, the Cold War is breaking out again. The United States has indentified both China and Russia as adversaries, whose leaders, Xi jinping and Vladimir Putin, are strong and determined to stand up to a faltering Donald Trump, who is desperately clinging on to doctrines of ultranationalism and nuclear hegemony. The Russia dare Mr. Putin just announced that Russia has invincible doomsday machines like an underwater drone armed with a nuclear warhead powerful enough to sweep away coastal facilities, aircraft cariers and a hypersonic vehicle impossible to intercept as it flies in a cloud of plasma "like a meteorite". Cuba is in the dog house again and the "axis of evil" has emerged once again under Iran's leadership, This time it is a three cornered Cold War, without any corner having committed countries to act together as military allies. Potential allies are hedging, with no viable grouping to protect the interests of the weak and the poor. If the Cold War is here in a new form, can a reincarnation of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) be far behind? NAM is anathema today even to those who helped shape it and revelled in it for years, India was one of its leaders, if not the integrity and India toiled tirelessly to keep it on the middle road, not to be hijacked by Cuba to the left or Singapore to the right . We fought to keep Egypt within it when every Arab country wanted it to be ousted in 1979 after the Camp David agreements. Indira Gandhi risked a bear hug from Fidel Castro a she took the NAM gavel to save it from the uncertain leadership of Iraq. Had it not been for India. NAM would have been wound up at a ministerial meeting in Ghana in 1991 soon after the collopse of the Berlin Wall. It was characterised as the " last gasp of the old style radicals". India argued vehemently against those who felt that NAM had outlived its utility. Since the essence of nonalignment was freedom of thought and action, India insisted that it was valid whether there was one bloc or no bloc. Even while building alliances with others, we availed of the NAM umbrella to promote our national strategies when it suited us. The very lack of homogeneity and unity in NAM enhanced its utility for us. One forum where we effectively used the NAM constituency was the Working Group on UN Reform, where we blocked an effort by the U.S. and others to add Germany and Japan as permanent members and close the doors for further expansion.