Contradictions to the "New Cold War" Theme
Michael Averko
April 16, 2008
Sensationalism, realism or both have been used to describe the "new Cold War" term, regarding the current and possible future relationship between Russia and the West. Proponents of its usage acknowledge that the post-Soviet differences are not at the level of the Soviet era East-West rivalry and have the potential to deescalate. This acknowledgment is qualified with: but...
Post-Soviet Russia's ability to project power is significantly less than that of the Soviet Union. Russia can potentially do harm to its smaller neighbors. Large nations in other parts of the world have a similar potential against their smaller neighbors. Russia's size has not fully protected it from unjust attacks. Post-Soviet Russia has not attacked a country it has disagreed with. Upon a thorough review of Russia's differences with its "near abroad" (former Soviet republics), it can be reasonably deduced that Russia cannot be legitimately singled out as the party at greatest fault. This is not to say that Russia has been free of imperfection on such matters.
When determining a threat factor, one should attempt to grasp the prevailing psyche of the nation in question. Contemporary Russians at large appear to desire a peace time existence away from the redevelopment of a militarized society, which takes a great amount of funding away from the civilian sector. Russian economic development is not best served by having such a large military expenditure. In Russia, there seems to be a keen enough awareness of how disproportionate defense spending contributed to the Soviet Union's demise. Russia's economic growth is cautiously appreciated by a number of Russians, who see fragile aspects of that upward shift (many Russians still live in poverty).
In line with this thinking: on Charlie Rose's television show, Russian United Nations Ambassador Vitaly Churkin stated Russia's limits, but noted its continued importance on the world stage. Churkin added that his country sees how some influential elements in the West (the United States in particular) view Russia as a threat, while trying to limit Russian attempts to reach out to other markets. The Russians are not alone with this observation. Across the Western left-right political divide, there are individuals who do not see Russia as the primary instigator. This grouping should not rule out a change for the better. The "realist school" is of the impression that Russia and the West have enough common interests to forge friendlier ties with each other.
During his time as Russian president, Vladimir Putin said that the idea of trying to recreate the Russian Empire or Soviet Union is absurd. Putin's other comment about the Soviet breakup being tragic has been highlighted and misrepresented. He was referring to the great hardship which accompanied that breakup. Among Russians, there is varied opinion on the Russian Empire and Soviet Union periods. As is true with patriotism elsewhere, the Russian variant has instances of over-glamorizing the past. Likewise, there are those who exaggerate the negatives.
The United States regards human rights as a fundamental part of its foreign policy. At times, human rights has been selectively used as a propaganda tool. Of all American presidencies, the Carter administration seemed to give the most rhetorical support for a human rights foreign policy. Its legacy included trumping up abuses in the Soviet Union, as China and Romania were treated gently. If anything, Beijing and Bucharest had a worse record than Moscow. The Carter administration viewed Romania's semi-independent foreign policy as a nice pain in the Soviet dominated Warsaw Pact and sought China as a strategically valuable anti-Soviet ally. Complementing this Machiavellian campaign was the Carter administration's refusal to block the murderous Pol Pot regime from representing Cambodia in the United Nations. At issue was the choice of a pro-Chinese faction (Pol Pot) over the pro-Vietnamese/pro-Soviet rival.
Carter administration foreign policy officials Richard Holbrooke and Zbigniew Brzezinski continue to have influence within the Democratic Party. Their overly critical views of Russia are shared by others like Republican Party presidential candidate John McCain. The Russia friendly side continues to lack clout on Capital Hill.
Concerning civil liberties in the present, Russians are free to leave Russia. Anti-Communist Russians like Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the late Mstislav Rostropovich and Paul Klebnikov have given post-Yeltsin Russia an overall thumbs up. Since 2003, emigration from Israel to Russia is noticeably greater than vice versa. Contrary to what is often stated, Russian media remains diverse. A major complaint pertains to the three leading Russian television networks needing to open up a bit more. One cannot help but have in mind the "diversity" often found at ABC, CBS and NBC. For that matter, there are valid criticisms of NPR and PBS. A Western NGO listing of dead Russian journalists includes those having died from circumstances unrelated to their profession, and others possibly killed by the non-Russian government subjects they were covering. On the last point, should the American government be held liable for the murder of everyone of its citizens? Keep in mind, that the total murder rate in Russia is said to be higher than the United States and some other countries. Saying that Russia is behind the eight ball on media freedom, while holding it to higher standards is not good advocacy.
The topic of Chechnya concerns armed forces and human rights issues. Militarily, the two Chechen wars of the last decade revealed the need for Russia to progressively upgrade its armed forces. Both sides in the Chechen conflict displayed a manner subject to legitimate criticism. The Chechen separatist side has had vulgar aspects that no nation can willingly tolerate. On two different occasions in the last decade, Russia permitted considerable autonomy in Chechnya. In each instance, the situation was taken advantage of by extremists in that republic. This extremism has no doubt decreased the appeal of Chechen separatism. By the way, Russia's most authoritarian republics (like Tatarstan and Kalmykia) have had the greatest autonomy. Though far from perfect, the situation in Chechnya has noticeably stabilized. As a comparison, is Russia's military intervention in Chechnya more aggressive than America's attack on Iraq in 2003?
Not to be overlooked are other areas which are not considered as important to analyzing the overall state of East-West relations. The Cold War's end is quite evident in the sports world.
This month saw American Becky Hammon opt for playing on the Russian women's basketball team at the upcoming summer Olympics in Beijing. The European champion Russian men's basketball team has Americans David Blatt as its coach and Jon Robert Holden as a key player. Russia's top men's and women's basketball league are stacked with players and coaches from the West.
In ice hockey, New York Rangers Czech forward Jaromir Jagr might play next year in Russia. Like many of his countrymen, Jagr scornfully recalls the 1968 Soviet led Warsaw Pact invasion of his country. He wears number 68 to commemorate that unfortunate period in Czechoslovak history. During the National Hockey League (NHL) players' strike of a few years ago, Jagr played in Russia wearing that number on his jersey. From the 1960s to about the end of the 1980s, the Soviet-Czechoslovak ice hockey rivalry saw an intense animosity between the two sides. Nowadays in the NHL, Russians, Czechs and Slovaks have a reputation for getting along well with each other.
Post-Soviet Russia's ability to project power is significantly less than that of the Soviet Union. Russia can potentially do harm to its smaller neighbors. Large nations in other parts of the world have a similar potential against their smaller neighbors. Russia's size has not fully protected it from unjust attacks. Post-Soviet Russia has not attacked a country it has disagreed with. Upon a thorough review of Russia's differences with its "near abroad" (former Soviet republics), it can be reasonably deduced that Russia cannot be legitimately singled out as the party at greatest fault. This is not to say that Russia has been free of imperfection on such matters.
When determining a threat factor, one should attempt to grasp the prevailing psyche of the nation in question. Contemporary Russians at large appear to desire a peace time existence away from the redevelopment of a militarized society, which takes a great amount of funding away from the civilian sector. Russian economic development is not best served by having such a large military expenditure. In Russia, there seems to be a keen enough awareness of how disproportionate defense spending contributed to the Soviet Union's demise. Russia's economic growth is cautiously appreciated by a number of Russians, who see fragile aspects of that upward shift (many Russians still live in poverty).
In line with this thinking: on Charlie Rose's television show, Russian United Nations Ambassador Vitaly Churkin stated Russia's limits, but noted its continued importance on the world stage. Churkin added that his country sees how some influential elements in the West (the United States in particular) view Russia as a threat, while trying to limit Russian attempts to reach out to other markets. The Russians are not alone with this observation. Across the Western left-right political divide, there are individuals who do not see Russia as the primary instigator. This grouping should not rule out a change for the better. The "realist school" is of the impression that Russia and the West have enough common interests to forge friendlier ties with each other.
During his time as Russian president, Vladimir Putin said that the idea of trying to recreate the Russian Empire or Soviet Union is absurd. Putin's other comment about the Soviet breakup being tragic has been highlighted and misrepresented. He was referring to the great hardship which accompanied that breakup. Among Russians, there is varied opinion on the Russian Empire and Soviet Union periods. As is true with patriotism elsewhere, the Russian variant has instances of over-glamorizing the past. Likewise, there are those who exaggerate the negatives.
The United States regards human rights as a fundamental part of its foreign policy. At times, human rights has been selectively used as a propaganda tool. Of all American presidencies, the Carter administration seemed to give the most rhetorical support for a human rights foreign policy. Its legacy included trumping up abuses in the Soviet Union, as China and Romania were treated gently. If anything, Beijing and Bucharest had a worse record than Moscow. The Carter administration viewed Romania's semi-independent foreign policy as a nice pain in the Soviet dominated Warsaw Pact and sought China as a strategically valuable anti-Soviet ally. Complementing this Machiavellian campaign was the Carter administration's refusal to block the murderous Pol Pot regime from representing Cambodia in the United Nations. At issue was the choice of a pro-Chinese faction (Pol Pot) over the pro-Vietnamese/pro-Soviet rival.
Carter administration foreign policy officials Richard Holbrooke and Zbigniew Brzezinski continue to have influence within the Democratic Party. Their overly critical views of Russia are shared by others like Republican Party presidential candidate John McCain. The Russia friendly side continues to lack clout on Capital Hill.
Concerning civil liberties in the present, Russians are free to leave Russia. Anti-Communist Russians like Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the late Mstislav Rostropovich and Paul Klebnikov have given post-Yeltsin Russia an overall thumbs up. Since 2003, emigration from Israel to Russia is noticeably greater than vice versa. Contrary to what is often stated, Russian media remains diverse. A major complaint pertains to the three leading Russian television networks needing to open up a bit more. One cannot help but have in mind the "diversity" often found at ABC, CBS and NBC. For that matter, there are valid criticisms of NPR and PBS. A Western NGO listing of dead Russian journalists includes those having died from circumstances unrelated to their profession, and others possibly killed by the non-Russian government subjects they were covering. On the last point, should the American government be held liable for the murder of everyone of its citizens? Keep in mind, that the total murder rate in Russia is said to be higher than the United States and some other countries. Saying that Russia is behind the eight ball on media freedom, while holding it to higher standards is not good advocacy.
The topic of Chechnya concerns armed forces and human rights issues. Militarily, the two Chechen wars of the last decade revealed the need for Russia to progressively upgrade its armed forces. Both sides in the Chechen conflict displayed a manner subject to legitimate criticism. The Chechen separatist side has had vulgar aspects that no nation can willingly tolerate. On two different occasions in the last decade, Russia permitted considerable autonomy in Chechnya. In each instance, the situation was taken advantage of by extremists in that republic. This extremism has no doubt decreased the appeal of Chechen separatism. By the way, Russia's most authoritarian republics (like Tatarstan and Kalmykia) have had the greatest autonomy. Though far from perfect, the situation in Chechnya has noticeably stabilized. As a comparison, is Russia's military intervention in Chechnya more aggressive than America's attack on Iraq in 2003?
Not to be overlooked are other areas which are not considered as important to analyzing the overall state of East-West relations. The Cold War's end is quite evident in the sports world.
This month saw American Becky Hammon opt for playing on the Russian women's basketball team at the upcoming summer Olympics in Beijing. The European champion Russian men's basketball team has Americans David Blatt as its coach and Jon Robert Holden as a key player. Russia's top men's and women's basketball league are stacked with players and coaches from the West.
In ice hockey, New York Rangers Czech forward Jaromir Jagr might play next year in Russia. Like many of his countrymen, Jagr scornfully recalls the 1968 Soviet led Warsaw Pact invasion of his country. He wears number 68 to commemorate that unfortunate period in Czechoslovak history. During the National Hockey League (NHL) players' strike of a few years ago, Jagr played in Russia wearing that number on his jersey. From the 1960s to about the end of the 1980s, the Soviet-Czechoslovak ice hockey rivalry saw an intense animosity between the two sides. Nowadays in the NHL, Russians, Czechs and Slovaks have a reputation for getting along well with each other.
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