Russia
Nina Taupier 2011-10412 Russia and international Relations The West and Russia. 31.5.13
Whether Russia will integrate or cooperate with the West has been and continues to be a very heated debate. Overall, Russia’s European frontier appears the most stable and peaceful. The defining factor in the European security landscape is NATO enlargement. Russia’s failure to prevent the first wave and the likelihood of successive waves make the prospect of dividing lines in Europe real. The extent, pace and quality of enlargement is very important. There is also the debate of whether the West should take on Russia seriously by accepting to cooperate and work with the Russians. In other words, this means accepting Russian demands for no missile defense in Eastern Europe and no NATO enlargement or further European integration of the former Soviet republics. The price of such cooperation is leaving Europe vulnerable to Russian military threats. Russia initiates different relations with different countries and many times uses one country against another or sets up treaties or compromises to limit the power and authority of the other countries. Russia is obsessed with power and status and this has pushed it to reject friendly relations with nations in the West. The relationship between Russia and Iraq is also very contradictory. Russia has criticized Iran’s nuclear arms and yet it continues to export technology to them. This has helped give Russia more power and leverage when dealing with the United States and diminishes the power of the US in Asia. The author believes that the Reset Policy did not bring the expected success in Russia and Eurasia security, but on the contrary, it has been a bad influence. Realism about Russia means that the countries in the West should take Russia’s interests seriously but also advance its own goals equally as seriously. The EU has recently declined due to economic difficulties but we cannot deny the fact that EU has played a
Whether Russia will integrate or cooperate with the West has been and continues to be a very heated debate. Overall, Russia’s European frontier appears the most stable and peaceful. The defining factor in the European security landscape is NATO enlargement. Russia’s failure to prevent the first wave and the likelihood of successive waves make the prospect of dividing lines in Europe real. The extent, pace and quality of enlargement is very important. There is also the debate of whether the West should take on Russia seriously by accepting to cooperate and work with the Russians. In other words, this means accepting Russian demands for no missile defense in Eastern Europe and no NATO enlargement or further European integration of the former Soviet republics. The price of such cooperation is leaving Europe vulnerable to Russian military threats. Russia initiates different relations with different countries and many times uses one country against another or sets up treaties or compromises to limit the power and authority of the other countries. Russia is obsessed with power and status and this has pushed it to reject friendly relations with nations in the West. The relationship between Russia and Iraq is also very contradictory. Russia has criticized Iran’s nuclear arms and yet it continues to export technology to them. This has helped give Russia more power and leverage when dealing with the United States and diminishes the power of the US in Asia. The author believes that the Reset Policy did not bring the expected success in Russia and Eurasia security, but on the contrary, it has been a bad influence. Realism about Russia means that the countries in the West should take Russia’s interests seriously but also advance its own goals equally as seriously. The EU has recently declined due to economic difficulties but we cannot deny the fact that EU has played a