May 6, 2004 :: Fox News :: Analysis
Despite the elation and optimism after the fall of the Soviet Union, it is not the case that the United States has vanquished its real, strategic, enemies, and second that those enemies pose no threat. Kelley Vlahos of Fox news reports on the recent souring of relations between Russia and the United States, and speculates that the United States may be entering into a new Cold War With Russia. In part to the mounting evidence that Russian “democracy” is but a sham, but also the anger at invasion of Iraq, the analysis serves to not only illuminate the immediate situation, but remind Americans of the fleeting and unreliable character of diplomatic relations between strategic competitors.
Nikolai Zlobin of the Center for Defense Information is quoted as saying that “We’re fighting a kind of new Cold War,” seemingly indicating that this is a bad thing, and that we should rush to repair relations. Good relations are always to be favored to bad, but the current situation reminds us, yet again, that good diplomatic relations are far from a permanent, and by no means a reliable, solution. So long as there exists the potential danger from countries such as Russia and China we must not only fight a diplomatic front, but strengthen our military defenses. In time of peace, prepare for war, is the old adage, but with nuclear ballistic missiles which can traverse the globe in minutes, the time necessary to move from apparent peace to war is little, and so almost by definition one can prepare against such threats only during peacetime.
U.S. Represenative Curt Weldon pointed to neglect and diplomatic missteps as leading to a deeper mistrust of Americans by Russia—but it is also the case that Russia, and before it the Soviet Union, has not trusted the United States for decades on end. In this sense, distrust is to be expected; trust would be the surprise, the thing to be remarked upon.
Aleksander Grigoryev, an editor for Washington ProFile, a non-profit international wire service, is quoted by Fox as saying that the misunderstanding is currently at an all-time high, and that, “Right now, state-run Russian media is a huge engine of anti-American propaganda. …It’s become a state policy to hate Americans.”
In a related article, the Moscow Times reports on a CIA report calling into question the future of Russia, speculating that the once-world power could break up into six to eight different states over the next decade, due to lack of domestic political integrity and continuing problems with the Russian military. Writes Novaya Gazeta columnist Yulia Latynina:
The state of the army also means that the preconditions are in place for the conquest of Russia from without. The strategic foes are the Islamic world and China; but we don’t hear much about Islam or China, we only hear about NATO. The fact that NATO is at our borders is a slap in the face but not a threat.
(Article)» May 6 Moscow Times: CIA says Russia may break up
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