Global politics, of which relations between the traditional West and Russia make up an essential part, is acquiring a new quality. Many analysts have been impatient to call the changes a “new Cold War.”
Sergei Karaganov, Dean of the School of International Economics and Foreign Affairs of the State University — Higher School of Economics (SU – HSE). Originally published in Russian in Rossiiskaya Gazeta (federal issue) No. 4407 of July 6, 2007.
Having suggested deployment of missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic, and achieved their tentative consent to host them, Washington has met with not only Russia's tough reaction but also the most unpleasant irritation of its main European allies.
One can only be amazed at the present state of Russian-European relations. Misunderstandings and minor issues take precedence over far deeper shared interests. These interests are clear: the need to prevent or manage the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;
When analyzing the Berlin Declaration on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union, the majority of commentators looked for its shortcoming.
For Russia, Europe is a centuries-long magnet, which has had a strong influence on its cultural identity to this day. For Europe, Russia has always been both a shield and a threat. Russia defended Europe from the Mongols, Turks and Nazis;
Many in the West see a perplexing obstructionism in Russia's stands on everything from Syria to adoption. But Russia is working from a fundamentally different understanding of the post-cold war world.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was a thaw in many issues that had been frozen during the Cold War. The two countries dictated terms to states and societies, the Soviet Union generally taking a more heavy-handed approach, while the U.S. typically acted with more finesse.
The collapse of communism in the 1990s was followed by what is commonly referred to as the “unfreezing” of numerous conflicts that had been “frozen” by structural confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States, which at that time represented the East and the West.