In one of the many debates that took place during the 2012 presidential race, President Barack Obama told Mitt Romney that “the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back.” This was in response to the governor’s remarks that Russia was still one of the United States’ enemies.
At the time, the president seemed to be right. The idea of Russia posing a threat on the world stage was an afterthought at best. Most agreed with the president, and the majority of the country (myself included) voted for him to keep him in office for four more years. Now, just a few years later, we are beginning to see how wrong we were.
Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has wielded a mere fraction of its former influence on the world stage. Gone were the days when countries around the world trembled the moment the Kremlin raised its voice in anger. Over the past decade, the only times that Russia has been able to exert real and tangible influence over the international community is when they have gleefully used its veto in the United Nations Security Council.
One thing that must be understood about Russian politics is that there is no such thing as compromise. You win, or you lose. If you get someone to compromise, you win. If you yourself compromise, you lose.
In recent years, the “wins” have piled up for Russia. It won when it invaded Georgia with no real consequences. More recently, it won when it was able to get the U.S. to compromise on Syria and agree to a solution that it designed.
Russia, specifically under President Vladimir Putin, has regained much of the confidence it lost when its beloved Soviet empire folded under its own massive weight.
Now Putin, the man who proclaimed that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe,” sees an opportunity in the recent Ukrainian unrest to regain some of the land lost in that “catastrophe.”
In all likelihood, Crimea will be annexed by Russia, and it is not beyond reasonable doubt to suspect that Russia will look to bring the eastern regions of Ukraine into the fold as well. Sanctions or not, this is another win in the eyes of the Russian government.
The coming months, and how the Obama administration deals with the rise of an old enemy, will make or break the administration.
Up until this point, Obama’s signature policy in international relations has been open and honest communication among world powers, but what happens when one side refuses to listen? What happens when you are dealing with a country that rarely reacts to anything but a show of force?
Only time will give us the answers we seek, and until then, we can only hold our breath.
—Charles Jones, second-year history and political science student