Russian Relationship with the US - Essay Example

RUSSIAN RELATIONSHIP WITH US Introduction Since the end of the Second World War, the relationship between Russia and US has continued to deteriorate. Immediately after the Second World War, the two countries which were the centers of powers in the world were plunged into a cold war that lasted for more than 3 decades. The cold war era was marked by differences in ideologies which were heightened by the erection of Berlin war. While the allied powers led by United States supported West Germany, the Soviet bloc led by Russia supported East Germany. The cold war turned out to be a race between the two countries and each struggled to garner majority support in the world. The difference in ideologies was also expressed in the foreign polices that each advocated for. While America was advocating for democracy in the word, Russia was advocating for socialism ideologies. There were a lot of differences in the interventions that the two countries carried out in the world. For example in Korea, America and Russia entered in the differences that were emerging between two sides in the country and they successful saw the splitting of the country into North and South Korea, a division which remains to date. America supported South Korea while Russia supported North Korea. Throughout the period of the cold war, the two countries took stand on opposing sides in any conflict with each asserting its force in order to emerge as the winner and have majority following. Their foreign policies had split the world to capitalist and socialist blocs in all the continents. However towards the end of 1980s, the fall of the Berlin wall was one of the sign that marked the end of the cold war. This brought about a new world order in which the United States was the only superpower in the world. It created a unipolar world where the United States influenced every decision made and tried to monitor all what was happening in the world especially thorough the control of the international bodies like the UN. At the same time there have been emerging centers of power in other regions like China and the re-emergence of Russia has been witnessed in the recent past. Current relationship between the two countries Currently there has been emerging differences between the two countries. Russia has been coming back slowly to its former status in the world which is seen as the start of a new cold war era. Although the world has remained the same as before, this time it is more complicated with other emerging centers of power like China which has been having a troubled relationship with the US. The relationship between Russia and the USA has been quite since the end of the cold war but of late it has been deteriorating. This difference has been expressed by the foreign policies that these countries have towards the other. There has been a trend in the way the two countries choose their friends and partners. While Russia has been taking one side with China, US have been on the other side with UK and other European allies. What American consider as "rogue states" or "axis of evil" are what Russia consider as friends. The difference in their ideoligies has been one of the factors that have been dictating their foreign polices towards each other and towards the world. For example, Russia's foreign policy towards Iran is very different from the foreign policy of US. While Russia advocates for dialogue and involvement of the international bodies for arbitration, the USA has been advocating for military factor in the nuclear conflict. Both countries have been advancing differences on the status of Iran and the accusation of development of weapons of mass destruction. (John 1998, 1) The foreign policy of the two countries Though the main battle between the two states has been fought on the UN security council using their veto power, the difference in their foreign policy has been expressed in the open and has been degraded to a mere exchange of harsh words and criticisms. While the US accuses Russia of using its energy policy as a foreign policy to position itself in the world again, Russia has been accusing America of wanting to create a unipolar world in which it influences all decisions. This can be illustrated by the comments that were made by Russian president Vladimir Putin about USA when commented that the US has "overstepped its national borders in every way". In a clear reference to the US, President Putin stated that the USA unilateral illegal action towards Iraq has not resolved any single problem that USA was advancing in its war on terror but has become a hot seat for more conflicts in the region. President Putin further clarified that "we are seeing increasing disregard for the fundamental principles of international law. No one feels safe! Because no one can feel that international law is like a stone wall that will protect them. Of course such a policy stimulates an arms race. The dominance of force inevitably encourages a number of countries to acquire weapon of mass destruction". At he same time Putin has been criticizing Washington's effort to secure its position as a sole superpower in the world and create a unipolar world. Putin asked, "What is a unipolar world However one may embrace this term, at the end of the day it ends up to one type of situation, nearly one centre of authority, one centre of force, one centre of decision making. It is a world where there is one master, one sovereign. And at the end of the day this is hazardous not only for all those within this system, but also for the sovereign itself because it destroys itself from within". (Niall and Andreas 2007, 1) These are some of the statement that can show the foreign policies that Russia is holding towards the USA. It views the USA as a country that wants to control the world by creating a unipolar world where it would be able to dictate everything that is happening in the world. This has an effect on the relationship between the two nations. During the Clinton administration, the USA was involved in effort to install American Ant-missile system in Poland and Czech Republic which was seen by the world as an effort to weaken Russia. President Putin stressed that effort of the USA on creating an antimissile system is aimed at ensuring Russian forces are neutralized but Russia on the other hand says that it is well prepared to overcome the antimissile systems developed by America. The USA policy of geopolitics pluralism which was aimed at strengthening Russian neighbors like Ukraine and Kazakhstan were seen by Russia as aimed at weakening the already collapsed Soviet Union. (Stephen and Ariel 1998, 2) On the other hand, the USA has been criticizing Russia on it foreign policies. Russia has been opposing American policies even on matters that require common agreement and which are for the interest of the whole world like the Iranian nuclear conflict. USA further accuses Russia of using it energy resources to subdue other nations back to its fold. The pentagon gives the recent failure by Russia to sell gas to some the European nations as aimed at punishing American allies in the world. The US has accused Russia of using energy export as a foreign policy to influence political policies in some countries. For example it has given the recent intervention of Russia in the Ukraine politics where it put pressure on the country on the choice of foreign policies. Russia has been curtailing the supply of gas to the rest of Europe. Washington has accused the Russian government of increasing its control of the most of the economic sector in the country while most of the governments in the world have been involved in privatization. (Charles and Stephine 2008, 1) Washington has been hailing scathing attacks on Kremlin on areas of human rights abuses and a flawed electoral process that has been favoring the retention for Vladimir Putin in power who has been one of the fierce critics of the US. The US foreign policy towards Russia has been affected by failure of the country to observe human rights and failure to give power to the people as US has been campaigning through its democratic ideals. In an awkward report that did not include China in the violators of human rights, the US has criticized Russia as being one of the violators of basic human rights. Therefore US have been accusing Russia of ignoring the democratic wave that has been changing the world and its rulers are becoming more and more authoritarian. However Russian has dismissed claims of democracy and abuse of human rights amid the growing economy of the country which may not be based on democratic ideals. It has showed that between 2000 and 2004 the number of Russian who were living below the poverty line has reduced from 42 million to 26 millions and the rate of unemployment has reduced from 10 to 7 percent in the same period. There has also been an emerging middle class in the country. These are some of the developments that Russia accuse the US of undermining in its criticism of the regime and has concentrated on the politics of the country. (Robert 1997, 1) Conclusion The relationship between the two countries has been going from bad to worse in the recent past. This has affected by the landscape of the cooperation between the two nuclear superpowers. Though they have shown that cooperation between the two is not an option, there has been a widening gap between them. Their foreign policies have been dictated by some specific areas of disagreement. Most of these areas have been ideas of de-democratization of Russia and other nations allied to Russia, the use of energy supply by Russia to influence foreign policies, war on terror where Russia seems to be curtailing US and NATO military from accessing Central Asia bases, the electoral process in Russia, the US idea of creating a unipolar world, approach to Iran nuclear program, and in other areas where the two sides have clearly expressed opposing views. References Charles, Kupchan. & Stephine, R. Sestanovich. 2008. Russian politics and US foreign policy. Council of Foreign Relations, February 2008. Available at http://www.cfr.org/publication/15620/russian_politics_and_us_foreign_policy_rush_transcript_federal_news_service.html John, Feffer. 1998. US policy toward Russian and its neighbors. Foreign Policy in Focus; Retrieved from http://www.fpif.org/papers/russia/index.html on 7th May 2008 Niall, Green. & Andreas, Rizzi. 2007. Russian president Putin lambastes US foreign policy. Retrieved from http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/feb2007/puti-f13.shtml on 7th May 2008 Robert, Freedman. 1997. Russian and Iran: A tackicla alliance. SAIS Review, summer 1997 Stephen, Blank. & Ariel, Cohen. 1998. The State of Russian Policy and US policy towards Russia. The Heritat Foundation. http://www.heritage.org/Research/RussiaandEurasia/HL607.cfm Read More