... killer weapons in its strategic toolbox: energy and military power. But the use of energy weapons is also self-inflicted wounds for Russia, making it difficult to use them on a large scale, while the use of weapons of war seems unimaginable in the post-Cold War era.
From Russia's perspective, every step NATO pushes eastward brings the security threat to Russia closer. It is clear that the next targets of NATO enlargement will be Ukraine and Georgia, an issue that was on the agenda at the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest,...
... dominates the world stage. But could it have been different?
Richard Sakwa shows how the years before the first mass invasion of Ukraine represented a hiatus in conflict rather than a lasting accord – and how, since then, we have been in a ‘Second Cold War’. Tracing the mistakes on both sides that led to the current crisis, Sakwa considers the resurgence of China and Russia and the disruptions and ambitions of the liberal order that opened up catastrophic new lines of conflict.
This is a vital, strongly-argued account of how the world lost its chance at peace, and instead saw the return of war in Europe, global rivalries,...
... the Ukrainian crisis. At that time, it seemed that Moscow was doomed to oppose a powerful and consolidated enemy on its own. In a matter of months, their relations lost all remnants of partnership of the previous 20 years and entered a stage of a new Cold War. As distinct from the Soviet Union, Russia found itself in a much more vulnerable position. Its economic, military and human potential was incomparably lower whereas the West had greatly increased its potentialities. In addition, Russia avoided ideology in its foreign policy whereas the ...
... possible today? What needs to be done today to prevent nuclear war in the future? Will the recent election have an impact on US arms control policy? Director, Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO), Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS); Corresponding Member, RAS; Professor, RAS (Russia); Member of the International Advisory Council of the Luxembourg Forum answers these and other most pressing issues of the nuclear security and arms control today.
Source: ...
... some cases two other nuclear powers [
1
]. Without U.S-Russian leadership, the two countries with 92 percent of the weapons, and eventually Chinese cooperation, the chance of heading off nuclear disaster rapidly shrinks. Instead, consumed by their new Cold War, Russia and the United States are dismantling the last pieces of the arms control framework they laboriously negotiated over a half-century.
Andrey Kortunov:
A Letter to John: Where Are U.S.–Russia Relations Headed?
Europe, the region that was to be ...
... visible role to play in the European security; NATO remains the only game in town. Russia relies more and more on China; the asymmetry of this relationship grows over time. More generally, international influence and statue of both the European Union and Russia go down.
“New Cold War” (strong Europe, no reforms in Russia)
. This scenario implies a steady change of balance between the two sides in favor of Europe. 2018 or 2019 becomes the turning point in the European development; the German-French backbone of the European ...
... totally unexpected disaster, which was swift and irreversible. It is not surprising that the West won a convincing victory. But the victory was over the Soviet Union and the Soviet bloc, not the socialist project or the left idea as such.
Following the Cold War, Russia spent a long time flailing in search of a new identity and ideology. Interestingly, the positions of the liberals were fairly weak both in Russia and all the countries of the former Soviet bloc. Nationalism was consistently gaining ground across ...
... isn’t the same as the Soviet Union was at the peak of its power. Geopolitical parity between East and West would only be possible with the establishment of a Russian-Chinese military-political alliance.
Andrey Kortunov:
"Seven Phantoms of the Russia's Policy Toward the European Union"
Third, the Cold War model was fashioned by Soviet and U.S. leaders to stand up to the biggest threats of the twentieth century. The twenty-first century has brought many new challenges, and the Cold War model can offer little help in fighting the new generation ...
... created with Russia over Ukraine allowed for the need for an ‘enemy’ in this regard to be met, which serves to reinforce the present geo-strategic superiority of the Eurasian chessboard in favour of the US.
REUTERS/Marko Djurica MDJ
Andrey Kortunov:
Russia and the West: What Does “Equality”
Mean?
Conclusion
Despite the end of the Cold War, the emergence of ‘the American unipolarity’ in world politics has led to a necessity for Washington to spread itself on the global stage on the one hand, but on the other it has paved way for Russian anxiety caused by being exposed to a ...
... affairs. Adding the fact that the current Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who has a realistic chance to become the next German president, has called the current escalation of tensions created by increasingly worsening dynamic between America and Russia “more dangerous” than the Cold War, it makes absolute sense to me that the current situation is desperately calling for a deeper reflection on our civilizational future, which should be based on Eleanor Roosevelt’s timeless statement that only “great minds discuss ideas.” ...
