Prospects for U. S. - Russian Security Cooperation

📖 The Scoop

Many might argue that this is a singularly inauspicious time to assess the prospects for U.S.- Russian security cooperation. Arguably, the prospects for bilateral cooperation lay buried under the wheels of Russia's invasion of Georgia in August 2008. As Vice-President Richard Cheney has said to Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili, "Russian aggression must not go unanswered," and that "its continuation would have serious consequences for its relations with the United States." Undoubtedly this invasion will have repercussions across the broad bilateral agenda, most of all insofar as regional security in the Caucasus is concerned. But ultimately, given their power, standing, and nuclear capability, dialogue and cooperation will be resumed at some point in the future. Therefore, an analysis of the prospects for and conditions favoring such cooperation is an urgent and important task that cries out for clarification precisely because current U.S.-Russian relations are so difficult. Russia, despite claims made for and against its importance, remains, by any objective standard, a key player in world affairs. It possesses this standing by virtue of its geographical location, Eurasia, its proximity to multiple centers of international tension and rivalry, its possession of a large conventional and nuclear force, its energy assets, and its seat in the United Nations (UN) Security Council. Beyond those attributes, it is an important barometer of trends in world politics, e.g., the course of democratization in the world. Furthermore, if Russia were so disposed, it could be the abettor and/ or supporter of a host of negative trends in the world today. Indeed, some American elites might argue that it already is doing so. Even so, if U.S. policymakers and analysts see Russia more as a spoiler than as a constructive partner (whether rightly or wrongly), the fact remains that during the Cold War the Soviet Union was an active supporter of threats to world order such as international terrorism, and carried on a global arms race with the West. We negotiated productively with it on issues like arms control and proliferation. Today, no matter how bad Russo-American or East- West relations may be, no such threats are present or immediately discernible on the horizon. Therefore the chapters in this volume represent both a tribute to a vision of political order based upon such cooperation and a call to action to revitalize that cooperation. The vision is one that emerged out of the end of the Cold War and was based, as Jacob Kipp's chapter indicates, on the aspiration that a new era of Russo-American cooperation was dawning. In that new era, it was hoped that the two superpowers of the time would establish some kind of ill-defined, but no less real condominium in world politics based on their joint cooperation. In any event, this cooperation failed to take shape for multiple reasons and causes emanating out of both states' political choices. Nevertheless, some important elements of this vision have been salvaged and continue to this day. Presidents George Bush and Vladimir Putin recently signed a framework agreement outlining areas of cooperation, for example: counterterrorism, arms control, and proliferation. Both sides routinely declare (what they do may be quite different, however) that they are not enemies and see no reason for war between them. Arms control negotiations continue, and, despite much hostile rhetoric, observers have discerned the growth of practical East-West cooperation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Genre: Political Science / General (fancy, right?)