United States and Russia After the Cold

United States and Russia After the Cold War

After taking oath of office in January 1989, President George H. Bush was determined to strengthen the new found relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. His administration reviewed the United States policy towards the countries of the Eastern bloc. In 1991, he met president Mikhail Gorbachev of Russia in Moscow to sign the Second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START II) between the two countries. The two countries agreed to ratify the treaty and developed a framework through the third Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Miasnikov, 2000). The negotiations were initiated in 1997 by presidents Bill Clinton and Boris Yelstin in Helsinki, but ended prematurely leaving the treaty unsigned. In 2002, President Vladimir Putin and his United States counterpart George W. Bush signed the Moscow Treaty, a nuclear disarmament treaty that saw the two countries agree to reduce their deployed operational war heads between 1700 and 2000.

In 1994, the United States and Russia announced a joint mission to the space. According to Wenger & Zimmerman (2003), the first Russian aboard the United States space shuttle was Sergei Krikalev. Subsequently, they engaged in more than 10 joint space missions between 1994 and 2000.

In 2010, despite raising controversy in Russia's political scene, United States of America's soldiers took part in the Moscow Victory Day parade alongside other European at the Red Square (Loiko, 2010). This was the first time U.S. soldiers got involved in the Moscow ceremony.

Relationship between the United States and Russia

Twenty years after ceasing of the cold war, Russia and the United States of America have had favorable opportunities to renew close ties with each other. The United States of America and Russia are closely working together under the G-20 tag on ways of tackling prevailing global economic problem and reformation of monetary regulation. Furthermore, the two countries have contributed towards improving the governing and capacity of both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In addition, they appear to foster favorable bilateral relations through the defense cooperation working group initiated by the two countries. They have collectively meted out counter piracy operations along Somaliland coast and consequently, in 2010 the United States endorsed Russia's quest to have a United Nations led probe on the implementation of various prosecution options of the pirates (Office of the Press Secretary, 2010).

Nonetheless, observers agree that relationship between the two nations has not all been smooth. According to Feifer ( 2007), president Vladimir Putin alleged that western countries were interfering with 2007 Russia's parliamentary campaigns. Furthermore, in 2007 Russia led other countries in protesting the U.S. led war against Iraq (para. 12). In January 2006, Russia stopped supply of natural gas to Ukraine, in September it suspended trade and transport ties with Georgia. The U.S. vice president Dick Cheney responded by claiming that Russia was blackmailing these two countries, in a rejoinder Putin accused the United States of causing wars all around the world (para. 15).

United States Diplomacy in Cuba

In 2009, the United States president Barrack Obama started the implementation of new Cuban policy. In March 2009, he signed into law a bill from the congress aimed at lifting some economic sanctions and easing travel restrictions (U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2011). According to Prensa Latina (2012), Barrack Obama signaled at the fifth Summit of the Americas that there was a new beginning with Cuba. In January 2011, The United States lifted some more restriction on Cuba. This included limited travel restriction and one year later, a Congress delegation consisting of Vermont senator Patrick Leahy who is the president of the Senate judicial committee and Alabama senator who is the leader of Committee of Banking, Housing and Urban Matters Richard Shebly, visited Cuba representing the United States Congress. These events are contrary to the measures taken by the United States Commission for Assistance to Free Cuba in 2003. The commission announced a series of actions against Cuba including travel restrictions; crack down on money laundering and an aggressive anti-Cuban media campaign. It appears that the United States government is committed on mending diplomatic relationships with Cuba. However, Cuban political set up is still an impediment in this process. Despite the power transfer from Fidel Castro to his brother Raul Castro, United States government officials have made a series of statements citing the need for political change in Cuba. President Barrack Obama has also maintained that even though he was open to dialogue, he would only lift the current economic embargo upon change in political leadership.

United States Relations with Russia and Cuba

United States relationship with both Russia and Cuba share some similarities. It is evident that the United States has used stringent diplomatic measures to implement foreign relations policy. In Russia's case, the issue was reduction of nuclear arms while in Cuba it is change of political leadership. The U.S. has succeeded in archiving this by commitment and consistency regardless of the sitting president. Russia is today safer than it was 20 years ago due to the arms reduction treaties and Cuba is slowly warming up to the United States of America's diplomatic advances.

The difference between how the United States relates to Cuba and Russia is that Russia is cooperating while Cuba is resistant. Russia and the United States have collaborated in number activities including the joint space missions. On the contrary, Cuba has no established relationship with the United States, the country has been non-responsive to calls to embrace democracy and respect for human rights.

Nevertheless, it is evident that the United States has changed the way it relates with other countries. The fall of Soviet Union marked the beginning of the change as many countries allied to the former "super power" were left without military, political or economic support. The United States foreign policy is focused on democracy, anti-terrorism, human rights as opposed to anti-communism policy 20 years ago.