Although the Cold War ended without major inter-state hostilities between the United States and the Soviet Union, only the United States was left standing as a world superpower. The Russian economy was crippled as was its military – severely limiting its ability to exert influence globally. Since 1999, the Russian budget has grown significantly , as has Moscow’s willingness to engage in inter-state conflict as observed in its Second Chechen War (once again gaining control of Chechnya after the first war half a decade prior resulted in a humiliating defeat), the 2008 war with Georgia (resulting in the expansion of South Ossetia and Abkhazia), and the current conflict with Ukraine as a result of the annexation of Crimea. Coupled with its …show more content…
This leads into the second: reassuring our allies of security, which is both a policy objective as well as an end in itself. Russian influence in the information age, however, is much wider than its physical lines of communication, meaning that the third end sought is to counter Russian propaganda and electronic influence; while Russian threats to cybersecurity are not specifically mentioned, cybersecurity as a whole concept is and we cannot ignore Russian capabilities as we implement the NSS. The final end is to open the door for cooperation with Russia. By achieving these ends, we are assured to continue a peaceful coexistence with Russia. As attainment of the ends will lead to the accomplishment of the stated NSS strategic goals, they are assessed as suitable. That is not to say that achieving them will be easy, but the NSS has identified very reasonable ways by which we can be successful. The ways by which we can achieve these ends are described in the NSS and NMS. First, multilateral sanctions in conjunction with allied nations will be used to levy “costs and deter future aggression” . Further, the United States has recommitted to honoring our security commitments with allies within the Russian sphere of influence with the intent of serving as a deterrent to Russian aggression via improved defensive capabilities (for countries such as
The first method of preventing the spread of communism was implementing US policy. This strategy included external resistance to Soviet imperialism and competing in the international arena. As a nation, we did not want the USSR to feel superior in any area. In order to do so, the US needed to modernize its military, conventionally and nuclear, so the USSR would not underestimate our country. This also intimidated
The Cold War developed between the Soviet Union and the United States in response to post-World War II tensions between the two nations. The U.S. and the U.S.S.R. emerged from World War II as the only two countries able to propagate their specific social and political systems on a global scale. With expansive capitalist (United States) or communist (USSR) ideologies and powerful military forces, each nation feared and distrusted the other. This cultural clash resulted in mutual suspicions, propaganda campaigns, media battles, and international incidents that brought these two superpowers to the brink of nuclear devastation. No direct military conflict between the two nations ever ensued; however, the constant threat of nuclear proliferation held the world’s concentrated attention on the two superpowers from 1945 to 1991. Fueled by modern weapon development, aerospace triumphs, and spirited Olympic Games, the power struggle was a constant rivalry that permeated all aspects of the global landscape including sports competitions and mass media. By the 1970s, television viewing outstripped the motion picture market, but Hollywood continued to produce a wide array of cinema selections including military, spy, and sports genre films that promoted America’s need for a strong, masculine presence while idolizing the male physique.
Many Americans have controversies whether the Cold War is over or not. The Cold War era began with ideological battles in the West and East. Political tensions and events are growing in the current conflicts in the Middle East and varied countries. The term “cold war” has rose again as new conflicts emerged from the Cold War era. After the prolong conflict between the West and East, the two sides continued their movement to bring sphere of influence over foreign countries. There are factors that concern upon the political events in foreign nations such as the War on Terror, Russian intervention in Ukraine, and ISIS emergence in Iraq and Syria.
The Soviet Union was a socialist state located on the Eurasian continent, which existed from 1922 to 1991. It was a conglomeration of a number of subnational Soviet republics with its government and economy centralized. The Soviet Union was based on a one-party system under the governorship of the Communist Party, with Moscow as its capital. Since the decline of the Soviet Union, Russia has been on the forefront seeking to bring about a resurgence of the socialist state. Current political events in Europe and in particular, those that revolve around Russia, demonstrate efforts directed towards reviving the Soviet Union. In more than one occasion, news releases have alleged that Vladimir Putin has plans underway to reignite the Soviet Union gradually and that the annexation of Crimea is evidence of this. In an article, journalist Adam Withnall noted that “…Vladimir Putin will not stop trying to expand Russia until he has “conquered” Belarus, the Baltic states and Finland,” (para. 1). Thus, there is increased tension in countries around the region, which was initially considered as being part of the Soviet Union. In truth, the Ukrainian revolution is demonstrative of Russia’s attempt to reignite the Soviet Union following the acquisition of Crimea, which will result to limiting the influence and expansion of NATO and the United States in Europe. Thus, Russia’s motivation to expand her influence
The cold war starated because after world War 2 there was a lot of tension between the United States and USSR. The US was a democratic government and USSR was a totalitarian government. They became rivals because both of them wanted to be the most powerful nation in the world. The rivalry started with the arms race. The arms race was when both nations were competing to have the most powerful nuclear weapons in the world.
The Cold War was a state of political and military conflict that tested the vigor and fortitude of a multitude of United States presidents. Throughout the Cold War, various different strategies and foreign policies were tried and tested by US presidents. However, the environment in which these policies operated in did not stay consistent. Correspondingly, the Soviet Union’s potency fluctuated consistently, meaning that during some periods the “Red Scare” was not nearly as threatening as others. The ever-changing state of affairs throughout the Cold War was spawned from a number of reasons, including both the belligerency of what was then the current Soviet administration and the acting effects of previously implemented American foreign
What really made the Cold War “warm up” or end? This is an intriguing question many people do not have a particular answer to. To start out with a cold war it not a war when the weather is freezing, and men are trying to fight on a battlefield. It is just a term used to describe a type of war when no action such as missiles and guns are fired, and no one physically fights, this can be a scary time for some people involved because they do not know when any fighting will strike. The Cold War was capitalism (the U.S. and its allies) vs communism (U.S.S.R.) and happened after WWII (“What”). The Soviets were desperate to prove that they were dominant over the U.S., one example of this was during the Miracle on Ice: a hockey game during the Winter
The cold war was named so because between the USA and Russia, there was hardly any direct combat just a pile of tension, hostility, and potential violence. They were heading towards mutually assured destruction; using weapons of mass destruction which were the nuclear bombs and assuring inevitable destruction for both sides if there bombs were to go off and ultimate victory for none at the end. Each set of alliances, the Warsaw Pact and NATO competently created nuclear weapons to threaten the other one. Just in case either one of the countries decided to attack using their fatal nuclear weapon, then the other one wouldn’t just stand empty handed. Both USA and Russia found it their first priority to keep themselves as secure as possible by
The contributions and success of the Red Army during the war against fascism are undeniable and have strengthen the belief that communism is a viable alternative to democracy and capitalism; however, the actions taken by the United States these past few months say to the Soviet Union that they are not our equal. Stalin feels as though his own interests were ignored in the handing of post-war Japan and in dealing with German reunification. If we are going to improve relations in any way, the Soviet perspective must be taken into account despite what domestic opposition there may be. Policy cannot only function as an extension of an ideology, it must also be grounded in the reality of current political situation of all parties involved. The United States will not be harmed by letting the Soviet Union participate in forming provisional government in states along the Russian border or by comprising on territorial agreements that would provide the Soviet Union with a sense of security. Compromise is necessary in the name of stability.
Conflict always revolves around a certain type of change. Whether it is political, economic, and civil or hate change for the issue will be made through conflict. During the Cold War, the Truman Doctrine was written to contain the vicious spread of communism lead by the Soviet Union. Actions made out of fear had negative consequences on the United States, such as the 1954 Guatemalan coup, 1953 Iranian coup or the Second Red Scare. These actions made to defeat economic threats and communism, toke a wrong turn when American government made economic security more important than allies. In the mid-1950s the Cold War was not the only issue brewing. Segregation was at its prime and Civil rights activists were there to ensure equality. The peaceful
The dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1980s is one of the most important events of modern history. It led to the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Consisting of all former soviet republics including Russia, this organization of sovereign states had to elect new governments to take over the dissolved ones. The imminent end of communist rule resulted in the democratization of those states, and created the potential opportunity for Russian provinces to declare their independence. However, through diplomatic negotiations Russia managed to reclaim all its provinces except Chechnya which declared independence in October 1991. Russia feared that this would spark disintegration efforts in other regions so in an effort to resolve this issue diplomatically, Russia proposed higher regional autonomy and tax privileges for Chechnya but to no avail. Realizing that diplomacy was at a stalemate, Russia declared war on Chechnya in December 1994 in order to re-establish rule in that region. The conflict became known as the first Chechen war.
Countering these threats by continuously evaluating other countries and plans to have WMDs needs to be a constant. The more emphasis countries have on this effort the better the program will continue to be successful. When one country can get away with not following set standards it becomes a critical situation for all involved. If each country is held accountable counterterrorism will continue and WMD will stay in check when unauthorized countries are not following these principles. The second goal being discussed is Protect the American people, homeland, and American
In the past couple of years, the United States has had some concerning issues with Russia. Specifically, and recently in the area of news and political ads that American citizens read and watch every day. Russia created fake news ads in order to manipulate the political audience in our country. Certain media postings can target specific audiences and provoke strong emotions by methods of simple images and words. Russia’s goals seem to clearly seek political chaos in our country by misleading and manipulating any American people willing to simply believe any facts and photos.
The loss of resources also sent Russia into an economic decline. When Ukraine became an independent country, it refused to let Russia to use the Military port at Sevastopol, which was the home of the Black Sea fleet for more than two centuries. In Georgia Russia lost an airbase called Bombura, which was the largest in the Caucasus. “Russia has worked very hard in recent years to demonstrate that it is a global power” (Oliker Olga 2015). This can be seen in Russia’s bold annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Georiga. Russia also sees itself the balance of power to counter the United States. When the civil war in Syria broke out Russia intervened in 2015 to help Assad and to protect its only naval port to the Mediterranean and its only remaining military base from the Soviet Union days.
Another aspect of Russo-American relations that showed a fluctuation in tone were the economic states of the U.S. and Russia before and after the Cold War. Before the Cold War had begun, Russian economic standards had already been on a decline due to the damaging effects of Communism in a global market economy. The years caught up to Russian industry and agriculture, reducing the quality of products that were meant to keep an economy afloat (Rady 17). The U.S. was so afraid of a Communist takeover of Europe that they were prepared to go to “war” over the matter. Because of Eastern Europe 's Warsaw Pact to combat NATO, the U.S. denied access to loans and financial support for them, leaving Russia with one less nation to sponge off of (Rady 16). Later, Russia made an attempt to alter their Communist policies to form a Hungarian-inspired form of Communism, called Goulash Communism. Russia’s rate of import increased due to the adoption of this system, and eventually peaked in the 1970s (Rady 21). Any Western items that were imported and sold in Russia at this time were considered to be valuable, and sold at higher prices.