Donald Trump’s election was shrouded in mystery and conflict. Foregoing the blatant notes of racism, sexism, fascism, and misogyny, Trump’s campaign also brought about a new discussion regarding relations with Russia. Throughout his campaign, Trump brought up ideas of repairing the deplorable relations between the United States and Russia, sparking debate throughout the political sphere. Specifically, Senator Lindsey Graham called attention to the fact Russia is still a grave threat to United States interests. Even though Trump seeks a better relationship with Russia, they do, in fact, represent a prodigious endangerment to United States interests. The United States should not attempt to find common ground with Russia because it will …show more content…
Instead of becoming closer to Russia, the United States should make sure that Russia does not threaten their power, and keep them in constant military check.
In a similar vein, it is impossible to predict the actions of other states. While Russia may agree to have better cooperation with the United States verbally and on paper, this it not foolproof. Akin to the idea of natural desire for power, Mearsheimer in The Tragedy of Great Power Politics argues that “states can never be certain about other states’ intentions” (Mearsheimer 31). This theory is extremely important for creating a closer relationship with Russia. No matter what Russia claims they will or will not do, the United States can not be certain of Russia’s actions. Moreover, while Russia may claim to want better relations for the greater good, they could be harboring ulterior motives, with the prospect of self-gain lingering below the surface. While this threat is true for all states, the recent and current conflict with Russia makes the situation more complex. During the Cold War, the United States was the only entity standing in the way of Russian dominance, so it is likely that Russia will pounce on any opportunity to eliminate the United States in order to obtain international supremacy. And even if Russia’s intentions are clear on the day of the agreement, state’s intentions can change from day to day (Mearsheimer 31). Today Russia might want to end their age-old conflict with
“We shall pay the price, bear any burden, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” (John F Kennedy) Before the Cold War, Russia and the United States fought next to each other in World War II. The U.S even gave them millions of dollars worth of weapons and other support to help defeat the Nazis. But when Joseph Stalin took over, created the Soviet Union and started spreading communism the U.S had to do something about it. During the Cold War the United States and the Soviet Union were pitted against each other, each with hopes on spreading their own but very different governments and requirements, taking extreme measures like containment, the Truman Doctrine, Berlin Blockade, or the Cuban Missile Crisis.
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 policy.
“revoke their [Russia’s] favorable tariff rates, which would increase the taxes Russian firms have to pay to sell their goods in the United States, or impose quotas so that those companies can only sell a certain amount of their goods here. We [US] could also implement a trade embargo. That embargo would cover certain goods, certain state-run organizations, or be a blanket policy that would prohibit U.S. individuals and companies from doing any business with Russia. We [US] could also prevent Russians from accessing U.S. financial markets, denying them a liquid source of funds.”
In the year 1981, the American, anti-communist Ronald Reagan became president of the United States (Doc 70, pg.426). During the first term of his presidency, Reagan expressed a great sense of danger and threat that was deeply embedded in his general convictions regarding the nature of communism, particularly, in the Soviet Union (Renshon and Larson, pg.15). However, Reagan eventually began to express alternative views in his second term of presidency. He significantly altered his perception of the Soviet threat and accepted the idea of possibly working together with the Soviet Union towards achieving peace (Doc 70, pg.427). This transformation is reflected though Reagan’s initial hatred towards the USSR, to his cooperation with Gorbachev at the Geneva Summit, their great attempts to negotiate at the Reykjavik Summit and finally their signing of the INF treaty. Ronald Reagan transformed from an essentialist who viewed the Soviet Union as “evil” and ruled by an ideology seeking world communism and absolute power, to an interactionist who viewed the tension between the United States and the Soviet Union in terms of mutual misinterpretation (Renshon and Larson, pg. 20). This change ultimately caused Soviet-American relations to significantly strengthen throughout the 1980’s as U.S President Reagan cooperatively worked together with USSR General Gorbachev, a leader who shared in the same goal of achieving a peaceful, non-nuclear world.
Jessica Taylor of NPR talks about how “Donald Trump's praise towards the Russian President Vladimir Putin” is creating controversy once again after his interview on Thursday to state-funded Russian Television. It is pretty obvious to the everyday American that the U.S. lags behind Russia in the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and that as America's global influence diminishes, a potential nuclear war with Russia could have earth-shattering effects. With these rising tensions and a nuclear war threatening on the horizon, one would imagine a President to work to relieve the possible threat. No President since Ronald Reagan has made efforts to work, or possibly find an ally within Russia. Over the past 8 years, President
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.
Since the founding of the United States in 1776 (State Files), the future military superpower was noticed on the radar of many countries. One of these many countries is Russia. Russia and the United States have had a multitude of relationships going from helping each other defeat the German advances in World War II, to threatening to wipe each other off of the planet in the Cold War. With all of the examples from the fearful Cold War, it should be easy to come to the assumption, The United States and Russia need to become allies to prevent world chaos.
The 2016 Presidential election forces American voters to pick between the lesser of two evils. With the future of the country at stake, there must be numerous hours invested into researching the best candidate to potentially run the country for the next eight years. Each presidency term shapes the past and future whether it be good or bad. This election will be no different. Donald Trump’s views including lowering corporate taxes to have economic growth, as well as, people on the terror watch list should not be allowed to buy guns, and the repealing of Obamacare to replace it with Health Savings Accounts give Americans sufficient reasoning to elect him for the next president.
Plato's Allegory of the Cave represents the comfort people have with their own perceptions and their reluctance to know and understand the truth. The cave represents our modern-day world of what we perceive to be the truth, while the light symbolizes the truth. Furthermore, the truth is a concept many cannot handle because of the lack of exposure to it and our complacency with what we currently know. In the story, there are shadows that are manipulated by a particular group of people, which makes the prisoners believe that these shadows are very real. I believe the shadows depict the powerful people in our democracy who manipulate and control what is true or not in our society.
The United States and Communist Russia endured a complicated relationship in the first half of the 20th century. In the early 1940’s the U.S. had encouraged an alliance with the Soviets against their common enemy, Nazi Germany. This short-lived accord began to deteriorate as WW II ended. By 1947 U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union had shifted from one of cooperation to a policy of containment. In 1949, when the Soviets tested their first atomic bomb, it was a widely-held belief in the U.S. that the Russians were an untrustworthy enemy with plans to invade the United States. America’s mood turned on American Communists, labeling them traitors and Russian spies. Underlying a domestic sense of well-being in the United States in the 1950’s
During the Cold War we saw the SALT agreement, this is much different than the limitation of WMD’s on Iraq (Pillar, 2014). There is no doubt that there are similarities between Russia now and the Soviet Union including a build up of military power. This means that there is something new coming or perhaps we are in the midst of this new era. The Cold War had its roots in communism and democracy and the spread of those ideals across the world to achieve national security to their respective countries. The new paralleled conflict is being rooted in religious claims and democracy, very different from the Cold
For many years now, the relationship between the United States and the Russian governments can at best only be classified as complicated. The Russian government will forever be marred by the Communist ideals of the U.S.S.R., and for that reason has been consistently held at an arm’s length by many of the nations around the world. Americans have been both fascinated and repulsed by the Communist ideals of the U.S.S.R., and especially by its first General Secretary of the Communist Party, Josef Stalin. Stalin has been described as secretive, paranoid, highly intelligent, and an extremely dangerous military strategist. In short, Stalin embodies the very communist traits that so many government officials feared throughout the 20th century.
In today's world, money can be seen to rule our lives. Being a necessity, healthcare takes a lot of our money. As a need, healthcare is overpriced. Overpriced health care can cause many problems for citizens in America. The average cost of healthcare in the US priced too high for the average American to afford.
Over the past 37 years, Iran has become one of the most complex and stubborn national security strategy issues that the United States has had to deal with. Once a key U.S. ally in the region, Iran is now a chief protagonist. To complicate matters, recently, the U.S. has found itself simultaneously an adversary and a quasi-ally of Iran. An example of this duality would be: on one hand, Iran has provided support to terrorist organizations, like Al-Qaeda, that have attacked the U.S. and its allies. On the other hand, the U.S. has found itself on the same side of the fight with Iran against the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). Now and in the future the U.S. National Security Strategy (NSS) will have to consist of a combination of diplomatic, economic, and military action, while also partnering with regional and international partners, if the U.S. expects to contain Iran’s disruptive influence and ensure compliance with the brokered nuclear agreement.
Jessica Taylor of NPR talks about how Donald Trump 's praise towards the Russian President Vladimir Putin is creating controversy once again after his interview on Thursday to state-funded Russian Television. It is pretty obvious to the everyday American that the U.S. lags behind Russia in the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and that as America 's global influence diminishes, a potential nuclear war with Russia could have earth-shattering effects. With these rising tensions and a nuclear war threatening on the horizon, one would imagine a President to work to relieve the possible threat. No President since Ronald Reagan has made efforts to work, or possibly find an ally within Russia. Over the past 8 years, President Obama has made no efforts to relieve this fear, and repair the fracture between the United States and Russia that has been intensifying since the beginning of the Cold War.