Why US-Russia Relations Will Not Improve

The Donald Trump administration has taken a different approach in its tactics with Russia. Even with the revelation of  of Russian interference in the US 2016 presidential election, the administration wants improvement in relations. Such actions have caused feelings of anger and confusion. There have been condemnations of Donald Trump meeting with Vladmir Putin, but this should not be taken as an act of treason. Nor should it be seen as a skillful work of diplomacy. While it seems that the Trump administration is interested in improving relations this seems unlikely to occur. The current geopolitical and historical circumstances prevent such a substantive change from being enacted. The Cold War may be over, yet the legacy still haunts both nations. The Russian Federation and the United States continue to perceive each other as enemies. The past continues to effect the present as represented by the behavior of both countries. The US and Russia have a radically different world view and this is apparent on certain matters of international affairs. Syria, Ukraine, and North Korea are areas of major disagreement and tension. The US continues to support NATO and maintain a military presence in eastern Europe. These maneuvers have only cause more complications in Europe and around the world. Something must be done to prevent a large scale conflict from erupting. It is pivotal that the world's most powerful nuclear armed nations be in a state of peace and negotiation. Instead there are wars of proxy being waged in which the US and Russia are supporting various armed groups. Realizing such behavior is dangerous, means that there needs to be a reevaluation of US foreign policy, Regime change, nation building, and installing American modeled democracy has caused international instability. Through out the 20th century Russian and American contacts have been mostly negative. Donald Trump's pragmatism may be motivated by economic investment, attempting to isolate China, or a settlement on the Syrian conflict. The problem with this is that President Vladimir Putin would not trust the United States, after what had transpired during the Obama administration. While it would be welcomed that both nations reach a consensus, it is an unrealistic objective, given the current international situation.
        The origins of  US and Russian enmity began with  World War I. When the Russian Revolution occurred,  the decision was made with the new leadership to make a separate peace with the Central Powers. The October Revolution brought the Bolsheviks to power causing the collapse of the Kerensky government. The Allies were alarmed at these turn of events and fearful that this could be a help to Germany. The closure of one war front would have helped the German Empire, if it had occurred sooner. Between the years of 1917 and 1918 the Central Powers were facing eminent defeat. Western Europe and America were hostile to the new Bolshevik state, fearing world revolution. Vladmir Lenin had the intention of spreading a workers' revolution internationally deposing the capitalist world order and establishing it with a socialist one. The world was clearly being remade with the collapse of the German, Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman empires. There was much trepidation about what the new geopolitical order would be. Russia was experiencing many setbacks with a limitation of munitions, supplies, and various defeats. Peasants grew more restless and workers could no longer tolerate conditions in the factories. Cazar Nicholas II was deposed unable to keep his empire functional. The Alexander Kerensky and Menshevik  faction made the error of keeping Russia in the war. The Allies once concerned seemed to briefly rejoice at this decision. When Lenin came to power it was obvious to him there was no reason to continue combat with the Allies. The Brest-Litovsk  treaty was signed in March of 1918.

The Russians lost territory to the Central Powers. The stipulations of the treaty included that Poland, Lithuania, and the Latvian province of Courland  be given to Austria and Germany. Finland, Estonia and parts of Ukraine were to be made independent under German supervision. Livonia a Latvian province  would also be a German protectorate. Turkey wanted access to the Armenian districts south  of the  Caucasus. Romania realizing it was isolated also sued for peace and in return was promised Bessarabia. The result was that the eastern front collapsed for the Allies. Germany could now devote its attention to the western front and Austria could focus on Italy. The Allies did not forget about Russian withdraw from the war. This resentment may have been an explanation for the intervention in the Russian Civil War. The Whites were a mixture anti-Bolshevik socialists, liberals, supporters of the monarchy, nationalist separatists, and some  peasants. The US, Great Britain, France, and Japan sent troops to assist the Whites in their attempt to overthrow Lenin's government. The Communists won the civil war by 1920.  Japan was the last Allied nation to withdraw its troops from the intervention. The series of events that occurred between 1914 to 1920 established the tone in which relations with Russia and the West would be. Russia since the reign of Peter the Great was seen as a dangerous rival power in Europe. The British Empire saw Russia as a threat to its position in South Asia. The Great Game was the term used to refer to British and Russian competition in the Central Asian  region during the 19th century. Afghanistan became caught up in this contest. This competition was continuing mainly due to Britain's desire to the empire's Indian colony be at risk. This was why the alliance between the Britain, France, and Russia seemed peculiar. There could have been poor relations between Russia and other Allied powers, doubtless of what government was in power.  

Foreign relations would antagonistic during the Interwar period. The United States just like the western European countries would view Russia and socialism with suspicion. America became so paranoid of Communist revolution that in 1919 there was the Red Scare. A combination of xenophobia and fear of Bolsheviks  erupted in racist violence and government oppression. A mysterious series of mail bombs were sent through out the country. It was unclear if it was a group or even Communists that were the culprits. It provided Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer a justification to arrest and deport foreigners. One mail bomb was sent to Palmer's home giving him an excuse to abuse power in the name of public safety.The people who were arrested  were 5,000 in total and it resulted in 249 deportations. J. Edgar Hoover a member of the Justice Department was an assistant to Palmer who would later become a long serving director of the FBI. Hoover would use the same tactics he learned during the Palmer Raids during the second Red Scare in the 1950s. The Red Scare of 1919 would end in 1920. Palmer and Hoover created mass hysteria while making outrageous claims about attempted Communist takeover. Thus began America's association between socialism and violence. Americans began to view Russia as an enemy to freedom and to an extreme degree a threat to world peace. The irrational obsession with  Russia did not allow other European countries to see real dangers. World War I and the Versailles Treaty created a situation in which Fascism could flourish. 

       The United States after the war chose a policy of isolation relative to European affairs. The Soviet Union was going through a massive transformation. Joseph Stalin became the absolute ruler and master of Russia. However, his ambitions were not world revolution rather revolution in one country. The Soviet Union was not going to embark on major international revolutionary movements as Lenin had envisioned. The plan was to engage in programs of industrialization and collectivization creating a model socialist state  that could compete with western powers economically. I would seem that that would have been impossible considering the global economy during the 1920s was experiencing growth. Roaring Twenties America was a place of  growing consumer culture  economic power,  and wealth. Many erroneous thought that such prosperity would last indefinitely. The stock market crashed in the United States effecting European economies. The Great Depression caused unemployment and homelessness. Communism and socialist ideology was becoming more attractive to people , which caused trepidation in European and American political circles. This explains why Fascism  was seen as less of a threat than Communist revolution. Perturbed and confused by economic and political crisis  the German and Italian  people turned to extreme far-right political parties. Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini  would attempt to remake the European political order. Germany and Italy had larger ambitions for expansion. France and the British Empire appeased them for a number of reasons. It was the a belief that if  these two powers were not a force in Europe the Soviet Union would become more powerful. Both France and the British Empire did not want to fight another war. 

Fascism was seen a the only way to counter totalitarian Stalinist Communism. These positions were horrible miscalculations. The failure to establish closer relations with the Soviet Union in the 1930s allowed Germany to maneuver in manner to expand. Joseph Stalin accepted a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany shocking the world. Some in liberal and socialist circles thought of it as a portrayal. Germany was free from fighting a two front war for the time being. A secret part of the agreement was that Poland was going to be divided between both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.  The West only became more anxious as Germany had masterfully deceived both France and the British Empire. When Germany invaded Poland, France and Britain had to go to war to preserve Poland's independence, which was part of their security agreement. World War II began with the Axis powers gain vast amounts of territory. The US continued to remain out of the conflict, but it was inevitable that it would get involved. Although America proclaimed neutrality, it was aiding the British through Lend Lease Act. This program of aid was expanded to include the Soviet Union, China, and other Allies in the war against Fascism. Two events that altered the war were Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union and Japan's attack on America at the Pearl Harbor base. Hitler initiated a two front war, terrorizing the Russian population. Russians suffered immensely compared to other Allied nations. The invasion and conquest of France in 1940 left Great Britain the only country fighting  the Axis powers, but this was soon reversed by events in the Pacific and Hitler's desire to destroy Communism. Thus, the British Empire, the United States, and the Soviet Union became unwilling partners in the war. Stalin complained that the US and Britain should open a second front so that the war could come to an end. Prime Minister Winston Churchill  had anxiety about such an operation recalling the failure of Gallipoli during World War I. Rumors began to emerge that the US and Britain were delaying  this military operation to leave the Soviet Union in a weakened state so it would not have global influence in the post-war era. 

Eventually, it was decided that an invasion would happen in Normandy, France.  Axis power had been slowly declining since 1942 and the days of rapid victories were coming to an end. D-Day occurred on June 6, 1944, while the Soviets were pushing from the East. Germany would surrender May 7, 1945. The world had been radically changed, more so than after World War I. Great Britain would no longer be the most powerful nation on Earth. The United States of America and the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics would become the world two only superpowers. Both countries became antagonistic toward one another fighting for geopolitical dominance. Relations between the US and Russia were in poor condition prior to the war due to the political circumstances in the international landscape. The new peril came from the rise of nuclear weapons. Two large super powers  were amassing arsenals and the fear of nuclear war would occurred caused panic. Europe became divided between east and west with an Iron Curtain acting as a barrier. 

            American and Russian rivalry became more intense during the Cold War. Both nations were influenced by popular myths in regards to their ideology. America though it was a defender of the free world and that Communism was such a danger it must be contained or eliminated. Russia thought it was leading an international freedom struggle against capitalist oppression. The US and the USSR were merely doing what other world powers had done before them: partitioning geopolitical space. The Soviet Union could have a long term presence in Eastern Europe and the Baltic states. The United States would embark in a new global role deposing governments, stopping anti-colonial movements, and promoting American business interests. The Soviet Union would in response to the US military interventions was to support various anti-colonial movements and even aid leaders of the non-aligned movement. The US and Soviet Union would fight wars of proxy in the Third World. There are numerous reasons the Cold War began. The break down of the wartime alliance created the atmosphere of mistrust. The power void left by the defeat of Germany, Italy, and Japan only made matters worse with both the US and USSR trying to influence areas in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Civil wars in China and Greece were some of the first areas in which the US and Russia became involved with. There was also a major economic incentive for the United States. Europe was at the time a large consumer of American goods. If the Soviet Union had more influence on the European continent, America would have been at a disadvantage in trade. US farmers, automobile companies, steel, and machine tool companies needed stable European markets. 

There was a resistance to open dialogue and diplomacy after World War II. The US and USSR became constant competitors for world power. President Harry S. Truman promoted a policy of containment. The Truman Doctrine stated that aid and assistance should be given to peoples who are threatened by Communism. The Truman administration aided both Greece and Turkey to demonstrate to the Soviet Union that the US had the resolve to challenge them anywhere. The year 1947 saw the Cold War escalate to new levels. Mao's triumph in China caused more frustration in the US and conflict in Korea broke out in 1950. The West and East only became more hostile to one another with the establishment of new military alliances. NATO was created in the event of Russian aggression and the Warsaw Pact was developed to counter the West. Simultaneously, the US was getting more involved in Southeast Asia. Vietnam became a place in which  the containment policy failed,because US officials did not understand the nature of the situation. The Vietnamese were fighting to have their nation free from imperial rule. The Viet Cong and Ho Chi Minh   were seen as puppets of Moscow by the US government. From the Dwight Eisenhower to Kennedy administration there were no attempts to distinguish between freedom struggles and  Soviet subversion. There was hope with a more liberal president that relations could be improved with Russia. President John F. Kennedy made such an attempt with Premier Nikita Khruschev. The Vienna summit did not produce results. Conditions became even more dire. The Berlin Wall  was constructed creating tension that had not been seen since the Berlin blockade. Through espionage, the US discovered that the Soviet Union was building nuclear installations in Cuba. 

     

The Kennedy Doctrine made it clear that no Communist government would be allowed to be in the western hemisphere, especially in the South American countries. The Bay of Pigs invasion was a failed military intervention with the goal of deposing Fidel Castro. Cuba allowed nuclear weapons and sites on the island only after this attack. The nuclear sites were to act as a deterrent against possible US invasion, but instead it caused the world to be on the brink of nuclear war in 1962.  Nuclear brinkmanship had brought the world to a state of crisis and the world wondering what might happen. Both leaders reached an agreement with Russia removing its nuclear missiles from Cuba and the US dismantling its sites in Turkey. For the first time since the end of the war, the two countries were engaging in rational diplomacy. The successors of Kennedy and Khruschev did not follow what could have been a path to peaceful coexistence. Vietnam became a source of tension between the Soviet Union and the United States. President Lyndon B. Johnson escalated involvement in the region continuing to send more troops with the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev reversed much of Khruschev's  reforms and foreign policy measures. The Americans supported the authoritarian regimes in South Vietnam, while the Russians as well as Chinese supported North Vietnam. The image of America was slowly declining in international public opinion as the war was seem as an imperial conquest in the Third World and certain western political circles. The Vietnam War so badly damaged the Johnson presidency, he did not seek re-election. The US would take another turn to the right with the rise of Richard M. Nixon. Along with Secretary of State Henry Kissenger a new policy of detente with the Soviet Union was formed. Political and military tensions were to be eased with the Soviet Union. Doing so, Richard M. Nixon hoped an honorable peace and a victory in Vietnam by exploiting the Sino-Soviet Split. Tensions between Russia and China had worsened to such a degree that there was a border clash in 1969. Mao Zedong disagreed with Khruschev's policy of destalinization creating antagonism among the two Communist states. Rapprochement  did not occur with the change in leadership in the USSR in 1964. The result of detente policy was SALT 1 and SALT 2. The Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties  called for the reduction of nuclear weapons. The Ford administration continued the detente policy, but political direction was shifted once more with the Jimmy Carter presidency. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan ended the thaw in US-Russia relations. This action made the US congress to reject ratification of the SALT 2 treaty. The Soviet Union wanted to ensure that the socialist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan remained in power. Afghanistan was struggling with a series of coups since the fall of King Zahir in 1973. Instability tended to attract external powers interested in gaining influence. Sensing that this could be an issue for the Soviet Union National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski suggested to President Jimmy Carter that the US should arm and assist growing radical political Isamist  groups to undermine the PDPA. The reason why the US became more involved in Afghanistan was not only for geopolitical reasons, but to get vengeance on the Soviet Union for its role in Vietnam. The Soviet-Afghan War lasted from 1979 to 1989  and was in many regards a Russian version of the Vietnam War. The Ronald Reagan administration came to Washington with a policy of aggressive anti-Communism. The military was built up more so, while a new arms race was happening. Relations once more reached a nadir. Ronald Reagan infamously referred to the Soviet Union as " the evil empire."  A speech made in 1983, this speech was designed to demonstrate that the US was more willing to get aggressive with Russia. Presidents had never been this threatening when discussing the behavior of the Soviet Union. A new era had began, with growing concern about US-Russia tensions. 

      The death of    Leonid Brezhnev exposed that Russia was facing a number of economic and political challenges. Corruption became widespread in the Soviet Government and the economy was stagnant. Brezhnev left no clear successor and the leadership was aging. The following leaders between the years of 1982 and 1985 died in office. Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko did not formulate new policies to address tensions with the US or domestic problems. Real change did not come until Mikhail Gorbachev came to power. However, it seemed that reforms would be too late. the Mujahadden were still fighting the Red Army in Afghanistan and the arms race with the US was continuing. There was a demand for  change in terms of relations and foreign policy. The 1985 Geneva summit meeting both Reagan and Gorbachev came to the conclusion that strategic nuclear weapons must be reduced for the sake of global security. Nuclear weapons were no longer just solely devices of  the US and USSR; they were spreading. Other nations such as Pakistan and North Korea were seeking them. Since 1982, the Reagan administration was engaging in the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, but aggressive anti-Communist rhetoric blocked progress. 

There was the 1986 Reykjavik meeting which came close to genuine arms reduction. The problem was that the United States was unwilling to abandon the Strategic Defense Initiative. This program was directed at the Soviet Union with the proposal of using space based weaponry to intercept Russian nuclear missiles. The two leaders did accomplish something. The Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty was signed in 1987. All land based intermediate -range  nuclear missiles were banned from Europe. Soviet SS-20s were removed and no longer directed at western Europe. NATO no longer had missiles directed at Russia. The Soviet Union could no longer afford to remain in Eastern Europe or fight in Afghanistan. The fall of the Berlin Wall represented the end of the Cold War and the most negative chapter in US-Russia relations. The Soviet Union would cease to exist when it dissolved in 1991. A myth that emerge was that Ronald Reagan's administration ended the Cold War. Western triumphalism was the new political philosophy in various circles proclaiming the superiority of capitalism and liberal democracy. Economic shock therapy which was done in Eastern Europe had negative effects on the population. Prosperity or new jobs did not come with the new free market systems. President Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s developed policies ending price controls and increase private ownership of industry. Free market reforms and the end of a social safety net caused many Russians to fall into poverty. While the Cold War had ended, the US still wanted to prevent a Russian rise. The error was that many assume since Russia adopted a capitalist system that relations would improve with the United States. Neoconservatives viewed Russia as  a potential menace even though there was little chance of the Communist Party becoming the political force that it once was.

The US was enjoying a role as being the world's sole superpower and policy became devoted to stopping the rise of rivals. NATO was struggling to define what its role was in a post-Cold War world. Russia was promised that the alliance would not expand. However, NATO became involved in both Yugoslavia and Afghanistan. Russia was having too many internal problems to adequately deal with rapidly changing international affairs. The United States did not have another power to check its behavior. When the US intervened in the developing world, it always had to make the consideration of how an equally strong power would react. Russia became during the Boris Yeltsin presidency in the separatist movement in Chechnya. A full scale invasion in 1999 was condemned by the international community. Russia viewed this as an internal matter regarding its territory. To the United States it conjured memories of the Cold War. Yeltsin resigned  having no solution to the war with Chechnya or Russia's economic turmoil. The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 dramatically altered the world. The US used the attacks as a justification for aggressive war. Iraq and Afghanistan became subject to attack from the United States tarnishing its image among allies and other nations of the globe. Russia going into the 20th century had a new vision of its place in the world. Vladmir Putin would rise as the most dominant force in Russian politics with the goal of  increasing the country's international profile. 

         History demonstrates there are cases in which US-Russian relations can reach a consensus. Yet these are only temporary due to vast differences on perspectives relative to global affairs. Vladmir Putin does not want a revival of the Soviet Union, rather his political ideology is based on a Pan-slavic revival. He wants a strong Russia that can assert itself when it needs to. Vladmir Putin has a more pragmatic foreign policy, but it is not in alignment with other European leaders or the US objectives. It has changed and been revised since his first term. President Putin  was willing to assist the United States in the War on Terror, yet was opposed to the invasion of Iraq. The Russian Federation like many other countries condemns US unilateral military action. Although Russia did not approve of the Iraq War, relations with the Bush administration were better compared to the Obama administration. 

   

   There was gradual deterioration in 2008. Conflict with Georgia gained international attention. When Georgia conducted a military operation to capture both South Ossentia and Abkhazia  Russia responded with force. From 2008  onward, Russian and American diplomatic ties would be strained going through another vicious cycle. The Russian perspective was that this was a regional matter, that did not need to include international involvement. During Putin's first and second term Russian was finally on a new trajectory. The United Russia Party saw victory in parliamentary elections in 2007 giving Putin a new mandate. According to the constitution he could not run for another term and decided to step aside. Dmitry Medvedev became his successor, yet Putin was appointed Prime Minister still retaining a high amount of influence. The West became more critical of the issues related to media freedom and accusations of  electoral fraud. International observers and the United States continue to question the legitimacy of Russia 's presidential and parliamentary elections. The Arab Spring uprising that occurred in North Africa and the Middle East further damaged Russia and US relations. Libya became a source of contention, when Russia voted for UN resolution 1973. Russia was convinced that regime change was not part of the proposal, but when rebel factions were being armed by the US, UK, and France there was a sense of betrayal. When Vladmir Putin won his third term in 2012 he was determined not to seen another Libya situation in Syria. Russian interest were too vital to see the Assad presidency collapse. Russia then decided to intervene in Syria in 2015 to fight ISIS and keep President Bashar Al-Assad in power. The US had funded opposition groups in Ukraine through USA Aid and by 2014  protests against President Vikor Yanukovych  broke out. Russia was alarmed that there was US interference close to its borders. Russia responded with the annexation of Crimea and supporting pro-Russian separatist groups in eastern Ukraine. Vexed, the Russian Federation got involved in interference with the US presidential election of 2016. Unable to to hack into the RNC, Russia was able to get access to DNC data. This made many to question if the Donald Trump campaign was colluding with Russians. So far, the Robert Muller investigation has not detected evidence of treason or direct collusion. There does remain the possibility considering that President Donald Trump fired FBI James Comey. When examining the history of the United States and Russia it is clear that relations may not improve in the future. 

            President Donald Trump wants to improve relations with the Russian Federation, yet this does not seem feasible. Much of it is related to the completely different world views that both countries have. The US still functions on a neoconservative foreign policy with the intention of nation-building. The United States simply does not want to see the rise of a world of multipolarity. Disagreements over Ukraine and Syria will hinder any progress of talks. The questions regarding Iran and North Korea only complicate matters. The more aggressive position the US takes, the closer Russia and China become. Donald Trump's limited understanding of Russia and foreign affairs puts him at a disadvantage. When the president meets with his Russian counterpart, meetings will not be substantive or reach long lasting agreements. What happened starting with World War I through the Cold War still has an impact on the current condition of the US-Russia relationship. It was announced that the Trump administration was deciding to withdraw from the INF treaty. This could result in a new arms race between two world powers. The precarious situation only gets more exacerbated with the rise in Russophobia. The Democratic Party furious with its defeat in the 2016 presidential election needed a rational explanation for their loss. Hacking and Russian interference did not cause their defeat, rather the inability to adjust to a changing political climate. There were many voters in rural areas that were ignored and left behind due to globalization and uncontrolled neoliberal capitalism. The Democratic Party lost a huge cross section, which only aided Trump's rise in American politics. While Trump has constantly promised  improved relations with Russia, but this is not attainable. Sanctions remain in place since they were placed in 2014. When the price of oil fell in that same year Russia was struggling economically. Enacting a sanctions measure was tantamount to a declaration of war. There was at some point optimism in Russia that a new Republican president would be willing to negotiate certain disputes. When Trump decided that US troops were not leaving Syria and a rumor that the US wants to establish a permanent military base in Poland much of  the drive for improving diplomatic relations stalled. The United States of America and the Russian Federation are going down a path of possible military conflict. Relations can only improve if certain conditions are met. The US must accept that the world is moving to a multipolar political power structure. Russia should make should stop interfering in US elections or data systems. Syria and Ukraine should be allowed to decide their own political future without American or Russian involvement. Russia and the United States should develop a framework of peaceful coexistence. Ultimately these conditions may not be met in this century. As the Cold War demonstrates, the US and Russia have been through fluctuations of turbulence. 

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