Can the United States and Russia just be friends?
It is no secret that President Trump has had a lot to say to or about Vladimir Putin, here are 80 times, just for example. From this list of examples, right from President Trump’s personal twitter account, we see many examples of Trump wanting to be able to be cordial with President Putin, and then flip his opinions of Russia and Putin in a matter of days. However, when have negatively criticizing and unkind words ever gotten anybody ahead in life? Many US Presidents and public have also had a lot to say about Russia in the past 100 years, has also added to the years of tension. To have a cooperative, positive, and product global climate, the United States and the rest of the Western world must work on accepting and not isolating Russia on the global scale. The United States and Russia do not need to be best friends to make the world work more efficiently, but they do need to have a friendly, helpful, and healthy relationship towards one another. However, most other Americas, do not feel the same way, and many have an unfavorable opinion on Russia. Have a look at the opinions other other countries around the world view Russia.
What Scares America So Much About Russia?
Many scholars, especially in the Post-Soviet era have done research, written books and articles, and developed theories as to when, how, and what events caused the tensions between the United States and Russia to become so strong. Tensions between these two are not new, they have been around since the early 1900’s. A well-known writer and expert on this matter is Dmitri Trenin. Trenin wrote a book published in 2016 titled, “Should We Fear Russia?” , that poses many different fears that the West has, when it comes to Russia. To list a few of the major problems in Trenin’s book, that cause the United States paranoia when it comes to Russia is:
- their use of force. (Trenin, 27-37).
- their hybrid warfare. (Trenin, 27-37).
- lately their cyber capabilities. (Trenin, 27-37).
Russia is not afraid to use its military and its resources to achieve what it wants in the world, force is something that Russia has used since post World War Two, and Vladamir Putin has learned from former leaders that were in his position that appearing weak to the West is the worst thing you can do. “The weak get beaten,” (Trenin, 27), is something that has stuck with Putin throughout his control and power in Russia. On the contrary, the United States is also fully aware of their strong military and the capabilities they have surrounding it. Russia can also make the argument that the United States is not afraid to use their military and extreme force when needed around the world.
Force is something every country has had to use at one time or another, especially when it comes to ensuring they have their interests taken care of. For the West to shame Russia for doing so is not quite right, because each country has a duty to protect itself and its people when they feel like their security is threatened. Comparing the United State’s military to the Russian military is broken down into many categories , and it is clear that each country is strong in their own respect. While the United States by sheer numbers appears to have a stronger military, Russia also has strong numbers compared to most other countries around the world.
It is no secret that the United States and Russia are both strong, intelligent, and resourceful countries…
…If only they could come together and use their mutual ideas to create solution to global problems instead of continuing the tensions that arise from how forceful they each are.
Major Military Tensions Surrounding Syria.
In 2015, the United States and Russia both saw there was a lot major issues going on in Syria with the government that was in place, and how their Syrian government was treating their citizens. However, these two key countries still did not see eye to eye on how to handle or aid the situation. The main disagreement between the two countries during this time, was the United States being against and Russia being in support of President Assad, and how he was handling the situation in his country. With the two countries not agreeing on how the situation should be handled, tensions began to rise quite high, especially when air strikes began to occur, and they were occurring for different reasons and ideologies. When areas, people, and buildings begin to get destroyed due to a conflict, it is crucial to figure out some sort of solution, before too much is destroyed. It is still a hot topic today between Trump and Putin on how to handle different situations going on throughout the Middle East.
If only there was someway to handle situations like this, by maybe, talking out different solutions that could mutually benefit and help everybody involved?
But Is Russia Scared of the United States Too?
No place, leader, or group of people, on Earth are perfect. Every single country and leader has flaws in their policies, laws, and daily interactions with the world, the United States included. While “hate” may be an extremely strong word to use when describing the relations between Russia and the United States, it is clear from the video above, Russia has some negative and uncomfortable feelings when it comes to the US and their policies. Is it fear, hate, or just annoyance? I think it is a little of each of those options. The types of things Russia does not necessarly like about America are:
- The economic sanctions they have placed on Russia throughout the years. Making their economy stop steadily increasing, as it was in previous years. (From video directly above)
- The US supported anti-Communist views since 1917, and since then have had tensions with Russia. The US often speaks negatively about how Russia is being ran. (From the video above.)
- Angry about the building up of NATO forces alongside of Russia and their land, making it feel as if they are constatly being monitored. Another from of isoloation. (From the video directly above)
- The way the talk about about Russia in a fearful and paranoid manner. This causes unwanted fear which is being drawn from the past. (Trenin, Introduction)
Here’s an additional video on Russia’s opinions on America.
The United States or any country pushing another country into a form of isolation is never a good move for the global community. Isolation also is something that prevents relationships from strengthing.
Engage or Isolate?
The question where the general public seems to disagree most on is the one of if the United States or Russia should engage or isolate each other. Most of the time the question comes in the form of asking the United States what they will do about Russia, however, the same question can fairly be asked the opposite way. Isolating a country makes them feel inferior to the rest of the world to a certain degree, which in turn causes more anger and tensions to arise, taking away from solving and discussing important matters.
In the video of the Munk Debate about whether the United States should engage or isolate Russia, there were some good points made on both sides. However, Vladimir Pozner and Stephen Cohen argue well for the pro side of this argument, that the United States and the rest of the West must engage Russia and avoid isolation. At the end of the first opening round of this debate, Pozner argues that the United States must engage Russia for change to occur. Change can not be fully successful, unless every key player is content and on board with wanting to assist in said changes.
What engagement Can Do Positively on a Global Scale
The United States and the West are extremely hesitant, and from some legitimate reasons, when it comes to being on friendly terms with Putin and Russia, but have they ever stopped to think about the benefits that could come by easing the tensions and forming some sort of friendly bond?
By loosening and easing up on the tensions , the world as a whole can inherit some great benefits and successes in research, especially those pertaining to science. Science is a global interest, because it can better quality of life, depending on the discoveries that are made. Everyone in the world likes to see advancements. According to Cathleen A. Campbell in the article linked above, explains why it is important for these two key countries to get along, for sciences sake.
- Due to the US places economic sanctions on Russia, Russia is less likely to cooperate and work with the US, on the International Space Station.
- Russia has threatened to shut down Global Positioning Systems that help with different research conducted by those who study geography.
- The United States has posed bans on Russian scientists working in their labs. Without these scientists all working together, it will be easier for the United States to not have as much information as they could, if they would just cooperate.
Not only will the sciences be affected if the United States and Russia can not hit some sort of common mutual agreement, but many political situations will never be able to be handled properly and effectively. Some of those issues include:
- Global terrorism
- National security
- Treaties and alliances
- Prevention of conflict and war
- Handling crisis’ if and when they occur
For a global community to be able to run smoothly and be able to fully function, peace must be made among fellow countries. While they do not have to agree on everything, they can not hold grudges for years on end. With grudges being held, a country could miss a helpful solution to a world problem, all because the places and leaders did not see eye to eye.
Just Be Friends Already??
The idea of engagement starting with the United States is something I absolutely believe is critical in building a stronger, healthy, and progressive relationship with Russia. Isolation pushes tensions beyond their limits, and makes it almost impossible to build a healthy relationship after that. For the sake of the world and its affairs, the United States and Russia need to ease up their tensions, heal their past historical wounds and concerns, and have some sort of peaceful relationship.
They do not need to be best friends, but they need to be acquaintances at the very least. It will only make the global world stronger.
Hey, President Trump sure likes to talk about Putin a lot, now if only he could talk directly to him that much.
POLI 3410, Russian Foreign Policy 