The Invasion Of The Crimea, And Donbass Of Russia

Following World War II disputes between soviet and the Western democracies kicked up, particularly dealing with the fate of Eastern European states and the Soviets influential takeover. The communist takeover of Eastern Europe clashed with the democratic rebuilding of Western Europe forming what Winston Churchill described as a “Iron Curtain” a political, military and ideological barrier set by the Soviet Union served to set a metaphorical boundary between the Soviet expansion and the Western democracies. With the fall of the “Iron Curtain” “The Cold War was a period of East-West competition, tension, and conflict short of full-scale war, characterized by mutual perceptions of hostile intention between military-political alliances or blocs.”

Even today, the Balkans remain an invaluable geopolitical crossroads where Russia competes with the West for influence. Currently, many Balkan nations that were either historically non-aligned or allies with Russia are seeking greater relations with the West. Montenegro has recently acceded into NATO, and Serbia and Macedonia have signed several agreements that are considered preconditions for closer cooperation and eventual membership. NATO expansion in general is a sensitive topic for Russia, and is only worsened when it concerns the Balkan nations. Russia has repeatedly stated that it will not go to war with NATO, and no military-political organization has been created to counter the influence of NATO

Moscow, U.S.S.R. 19 September, 2020. Instead of in our world when it collapsed in 1989, the Soviet Union managed to pull through the tough time, but now it couldn’t. Rioters crowded the streets, attempting to penetrate the defenses of the buildings holding state officials. Only the KGB remained loyal to its government, while the U.S.S.R.’s enemies watched smugly, and the Warsaw Pact Nations defected to NATO. A civil war in Cuba ended communism there, and Anti-Communist factions in all nations were at strong points.

The Failure of One, the Fall of Many: Featuring the US and the Soviet Union

To understand the Cold War, one must first understand the reasons why each nation decided to engage in it, their thought process, and what they saw as legitimate and ideologically correct. Joseph Stalin sought protection against another German invasion by creating a buffer zone between the West and the East, and by making new allies in Europe. The West disliked how Stalin took an anti-democratic and strong-arm approach to create his alliance. However, one can better understand Stalin by comparing his post war actions to American expansionism in 1898 (Herring 2008, 335). The very same disliked approach favored by Stalin was taken by US President William McKinley in

Former President Jimmy Carter once stated, “When I was in the White House, I was confronted with the challenge of the Cold War. Both the Soviet Union and I had 30,000 nuclear weapons that could destroy the entire earth and I had to maintain the peace” (“Jimmy Carter”). This statement has seemingly remained truthful from the point when Soviet Russia and America worked together to stem, and eventually end, the tide of Nazi Germany’s imperialistic overthrow of Europe. Since the end of World War II to the present day, relations between Russia and America have declined due to the Cold War, improved due to Russia 's transition to democracy, and are reverting back to Cold War standards in relation to political involvement and economic standards,

Through the research articles by Grigas and Feklyunina respectfully, this unsuccessful streak in Russia’s attempts for soft power were discussed as well as its reversion to hard power to attempt to redrive fear in the global space. Beginning with Grigas’ piece, the unsuccessful attempts of Russia in constraining the independence of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in order to undermine their political, economic and civilizational choices were discussed and focussed in what caused this turn. (Grigas, 2012) While Russia still retains its military might, economic strength and a culture to inspire the denizens to obey; they still largely found it difficult to coerce the Baltic people who once obeyed their commands as the USSR. (Grigas, 2012) Grigas believes in contrast to the United States not wishing to live in the past as a global enforcer after the Cold War concluded, Russia had desired to regain the strength it had as the USSR, yet it's living in the past may have diluted its influence as well. Through Feklyunina’s piece, this desire of recreating its once ‘Russian world’ philosophy of recreating the strengths of the USSR in order to recreate the common identity. (Feklyunina, 2015)

To deal with these vulnerabilities, Russia expanded over the period of 1,000 years. In the first phase of this expansion, Russia expanded north to the Arctic and northeast to the Urals. For Russia it was the only land up for grabs that was easily attainable. In the mid-16th century during the second phase of expansion, Russia pushed south and east, deep into the steppes. With this expansion, Russia had finally achieved a measure of security. Holding the northern slopes of the Caucasus would provide a reasonable defense from Asia

After the break up of the Soviet Union it became obvious that the leaders of the Russian Federation didn’t welcome attempts by the European Union and NATO to extend their sphere of influence into countries once part of the Soviet Union nor did they approve of any of the former Soviet satellite states encouraging this influence. Furthermore, it has also become well known that Putin and many others within the Russian government, along with his allies elsewhere, dislike the detachment of Crimea from Russia for a multitude of reasons, not limited to the historic and

Relations between the West and Russia have always been difficult. Even when they were allies during the World Wars there was still mistrust. That mistrust is one small factor that lead to the Cold War. Now the level of mistrust is rising again. We have started to ask ourselves if this is the beginning of another Cold War. Some will even ask if we are already in another state of cold war with Russia. After contemplating these questions, the answer is that can be concluded is that the West and Russia aren’t currently in a state of a Cold War but could be moving towards one in the future if relations do no change. The factors that drove the last Cold War such as competing ideologies, the nuclear arms race, and overall fear of each States’ security have been altered in a way that makes it much harder for us to return to a Cold War state. However, these factors do still exist and if each state is not care to take responsibility for their actions then history could still repeat itself and we could find ourselves in another cold war in the future.

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    During the cold war the USSR and the USA were head to head. They fought against each other beginning in World War 2 in political, social and economical aspects, including the infamous “Arms Race”. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was founded in hopes to stop the spread of the Soviets into western Europe. As capitalism grew across western Europe and the rest of the world tension between the USSR and the U.S.A grew with

Russia felt as they were in a vulnerable position. In 1955 they created the Warsaw Pact. This was the response to NATO under the rule of Stalin. It included all the Eastern European countries, which prevented the Western countries having authority over military power over Russia. As communism was a law that suggested sharing, Stalin dominated the Warsaw Pact, but this ways of “dealing” with people prevented any disagreements and it

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

While the Middle East and China will remain concerns in the near future, the most significant threat to the United States domestically and internationally will be Russia. For years, Russia was often overlooked as a large “Failed State” with the fall of Communism and the collapse of its Socialist government. Under Vladimir Putin, Russia has enacted policies aimed at modernizing its military, reacquiring former Soviet states, and undermining the United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO.)