Crisis Of Ukraine : A New Us / Russia Cold War?

Since then President Putin of Russia has gradually attempted to re-unite the Soviet Union by re-staking claims to certain of the previous member states. This post-cold war resurgence by Russia to dominate other states is another illustration of the struggle between power and freedom or

In 2014, Russia captured the Crimea and Sevastopol, and unfurled tens of thousands of troops near Ukraine border. This is where the conflict flashed between pro-Russian separatists and the new government in Kiev. Russia's actions, including reported military aid for separatist troops, mark a serious major threat to generally accepted principles of world order, such as, sovereignty and

The conflict and subsequent invasion of the Ukraine by Russia came as a surprise to many people in the world, including to the United States intelligence community. This surprise move by the Russian government caused many members of Congress to point the blame at the intelligence community for failing to accurately predict this move, thus limiting the United States and NATOs ability to respond in a timely manner. But was there really an intelligence failure or was this action something that was

For decades, the United States and Russia, formerly The Soviet Union, have held tensions with each other over different political stances and military actions and intelligence. Starting from the late years of World War II - when the Soviet Union had aggressively spread communism throughout Eastern Europe - up to a couple years ago when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine out of nowhere; their relationship has been a rollercoaster of a ride for these two countries. Even though the United States and Russia are no longer in a Cold War, there has been and continues to be tension between the two countries as exemplified by many events of conflict including the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Russian military’s current presence in Syria.

Russia has built a strong, but stagnating economy on several natural resources to include the refinery and export of natural gas and oil. According to the Jim Picht (2014) exportation of natural gas and oil to Eastern Europe account for 70 percent of Russia’s exports and 53 percent of the government’s revenue. Along with exporting oil to Eastern Europe, Russia also exports too many countries to include China and Belarus. Europe fueled majority by Russian supplied natural gas and oil, the dependency of Europe’s need for this natural resource is the reason Russia’s economy is so strong. In 2014, when Russia decided to invade the neighboring country of Ukraine has led Europe to begin searching for other suppliers of their natural resources. If Europe finds other countries to supply the natural resources

In the past several years, there have been many occurrences of conflict between different nations, about their nationality and being stripped of their own birth place. The United States has a tendency to associate themselves in the center of these foreign affairs. The United States, in order to maintain good economic relations and their super power status, feels the need to always get involved and provide support for the country they believe is receiving unjust treatment. Recently, Vladmir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation, took over the formerly Russian region of Crimea. The Crimean people voted in a referendum to separate from Ukraine and for Russia to annex

From the Beginning of the Soviet Union, the West opposed the communist nation ideologically, the capitalist West feared communism. Communism was the reason that the Soviet Union was not compatible with the Western capitalist nations. With the end of the Soviet Union and the birth of capitalism in Russia, the West believed that their eastern problem was over, although as time would tell this assumption would be incorrect. Over the next decade, Russia would exert their power over boarding nations trying to join NATO, even invading Georgia, and Ukraine. Furthermore, they would back anti-West dictators such as Assad, proving Western tensions with Russia are far from over. Political and military tensions between the West and Russia persisted after the end of the Cold War because of the rise of anti-west military elites in Russian politics. This occurred because of Russia’s inability to properly implement a free market economy. Instead, Yeltsin, the Russian president at the time, enacted “shock therapy” capitalism. This process led to corruption in Russian politics and consolidation of power among anti-western Russian elites. The anti-west security elites, such as Putin, were able to rise to power by vowing to eliminate this corruption. These elites pose a threat to the West due to their dislike and aggressiveness towards the West.

During the Cold War, the United States enacted the policy of containment to combat the spread of communism and pledged to contain the Soviet Union’s influence. The United States’ foreign policy had the intention of directly addressing the Soviet Union and all communist activity, without physically battling the them. The US enacted the Truman Doctrine as a major part of their foreign policy which pledged to aid all countries battling communism, which lead the foreign policy of the United States for the next 45 years. In addition, NATO was established as a way for the part of western Europe to defend themselves against communism (“Boundless Political Science”). However, the Crisis in Ukraine was addressed differently in regard the US foreign policy. As mentioned in the Foreign Policy Agenda of the Department of State, the US policy is to, “Create a more secure, democratic, and prosperous world for the benefit of the American people and the international community” (“Mission”). Instead of battling communism and Russia’s influence in the world, the US is only focusing on promoting democracy and create stability offered in that system. As mentioned earlier, Ukraine is in desperate need of stability and the guidance the EU and US may offer due to their foreign policy pledge and may help them reach that goal. With help from the US and

The two countries, Russia and Ukraine, had different reactions towards the armed violence and impeachment of the Ukrainian president. Although the majority of the Ukrainians opposed Viktor’s decision to procrastinate the signing the EU-Ukraine integration agreement, all the ex-presidents accused for its interference with the affairs of Crimean. The former presidents of Ukraine, including Leonid Kravchuk and Leonid Kuchma described the present crisis as Russia’s political interventions designed to interfere with the internal affairs of Ukraine and its relationship with the European Union (Hanschke 1). The people of Crimea have not been seeking for secession from Ukraine, but their interest is to have extended autonomy and rights to govern the Crimean affairs with minimum involvement of the government of Ukraine. Russia, on the other hand, have dismissed the accusation and stated that it is pursuing the interest of the people of Crimea to join the Federation of Russia. Russia holds that the people of Crimea have the power to decide the future of their territory and Russia will be ready to respect their decision. Study shows that about 90

Purely geopolitically, Russia (particularly European Russia) along with its environs is viewed with the utmost importance in multiple schools of thinking. It dominates the “pivot area” hypothesized to be essential to dominance over Eurasia in Sir Halford Mackinder’s “Heartland theory” while Spykman’s “Rimland theory” focuses on the prevention of Russia’s naval capability and was said to have influenced Truman’s doctrine of Containment (that in itself led to numerous brutal proxy conflicts such as Vietnam and Korea). Strong effective government in this resource-rich vast area is widely cited as necessary for maintaining global peace. Hence, the breakdown of established order in such a sought after “global heartland” is rightly feared, as it could lead aggressively opportunistic players coming to positions of strength in the region, or instead provoke all out civil war both creating veritable “catastrophes” for the region so in this sense Putin was correct; the immediate aftermath of the fall of Communism was certainly expected to lead to considerable turmoil and, indeed, did so.

The crisis in Ukraine and Crimea’s recent accession to Russia are events that clearly highlight the underlying sources of conflict in global politics. While Russia sees its actions in Crimea as a “reunification” and the respect for the right of self-determination, the West views it as a threat to European security and a violation of territorial integrity. Crimea has been a debatable topic from the time it came under the control of the Russian Empire in 1783 during the reign of Catherine the Great. The justification then was similar to the reasoning being used by Vladimir Putin today. Catherine declared that she was protecting ethnic Russians in the region from the Ottoman Empire, much as Putin is claiming to protect Russians from Ukrainian

The conflict between the Ukraine and Russia is the Ukraine's most long-standing and deadly crisis; since its post-Soviet independence began as a protest against the government dropping plans to forge closer trade ties with the European Union. The conflict between Russia and the Ukraine stems from more than twenty years of weak governance, the government’s inability to promote a coherent executive branch policy, an economy dominated by oligarchs and rife with corruption, heavy reliance on Russia, and distinct differences between Ukraine's population from both Eastern and Western regions in terms of linguistics, religion and ethnicity (Lucas 2009).

In early 2014, Russia made the decision to conduct an illegal military intervention into Ukraine. It all began when there was a dispute over whether Ukraine should accept financial help from Russia or Europe, which then ascended into the ousting of the Ukrainian president and then invasion of Ukraine. More specifically, Russia began to taking over the Ukraine territory of the Crimean Peninsula through illegal use of force (Global Security, 2016). During that time, the Russian government voted to place Crimean’s into the Russian Federation, which had been rapidly accepted by the President of Russia himself, Vladimir Putin. Most of the Crimean population is ethnic Russians, although there are also the pro-Ukraine Tatar minorities that make

The political relations between Ukraine and Russia as the two independent subjects of international relations were established in 1991 after the eighth December of the same year signed the Belavezha agreement between Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, which marked the end of the existence of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as " subject of international law and geopolitical reality "and the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States. From that moment we can talk about the beginning of the existence of full political relations between Russia and Ukraine.

The breadbasket of Eastern Europe is having a problem with militants who have killed and have tortured hundreds of people in the name of freedom. The militants, Pro-Russian rebels native to Ukraine, believe that their actions against the government are just. Those who believe that the Pro-Russian Ukrainian rebels are fighting against a corrupt, ultranationalist government are right. The Ukrainian citizens need to understand, however, that the government of Ukraine is the lesser of two evils; the rebels have committed many more heinous crimes than the government has. The rebels are also against policies that can benefit all of Europe and Ukraine. Currently, the Ukrainian people seek to have a stable nation with a self-sufficient government