The cold war was a time of political tension between the then soviet union and it's surrounding regions, and also between the united states and some of it's allied nations. Records has it that this tension began as a result of the united states foreign policy which was aimed at stopping the expansion of Soviets union states and rule of communism in eastern Europe. Hence, both parties supported and allied with different nations in war or at conflict against each other.
After the second world war and the temporary wartime alliance with Nazi Germans got splitted, the USSR and US became the two major world powers. The USSR began to take control over states on the eastern bloc, while the united states began the strategy of containment to challenge soviet power by extending military and financial aid to countries of western Europe. Situations like the fall of the Berlin war and Cuban missile crisis were the center piece of the cold war. You can say that both parties were at each others throat. And though both parties never engaged in a full scale armed combat, they were fully armed in preparation for a possible nuclear war. It took a lot of talks and and an unconventional means to end the cold war during the presidency of John F. Kennedy.
Drawing from all said above, you'd agree with me that the whole pattern is happening all over again. We are beginning to see more tension arising with the Russians and other world powers. The united states and it's allies as well as NATO supports certain countries and groups which the Russians do not favor, or rahter support the rival faction. I guess we can say it's happening all over again. The ongoing issue with North Korea is more than an example of the ongoing cold war today.