The ABM Treaty: The End of One Saga and the Start of Another
The November 2001 summit between Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin marked the end of the lengthy saga of the ABM Treaty. After years of intense conflict, the situation…
Posts by tag
Sokov
32 posts
Russia’s Policy in the Former Soviet Union and the New Challenges to the United States Eurasia Policy
With Vladimir Putin’s presidential inauguration in May 2000, Russian policy toward the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union began to change. By the end of 2001 these changes…
Instability in South Caucasus and the War against Terrorism
A crisis between Georgia and Russia on April 12–13, 2002, had several new, troubling features, suggesting that war between Georgia and the breakaway region of Abkhazia or, even worse, an armed conflict…
‘Kosovo Syndrome’ and the Great Nuclear Debate of 2000
In the summer of 2000, a long-simmering conflict within the Russian Ministry of Defense (MOD) burst into the open in a series of leaks to the media that culminated in…
The Myths About Unilateral Nuclear Arms Reduction
The idea that unilateral reduction of nuclear arms is preferable to the traditional but slower process of negotiated formal arms control treaties that dominated US Soviet/Russian relations for three decades…
Foreign Policy Under Putin: Pro-Western Pragmatism Might Be a Greater Challenge to the West
As Russia prepares for early presidential elections, the foreign policy strategy of the most likely winner–acting President Vladimir Putin–is the subject of much speculation. Will he be pro- or anti-Western?…
The Reality and Myths of Nuclear Regionalism in Russia
In 1998, retired General Aleksandr Lebed, governor of Krasnoyarsk krai, declared that he would assume control of a Strategic Rocket Forces division deployed on the territory of his region unless…
The IMF-Russian Negotiations and Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
The continuing standoff between the Russian government and the IMF threatens the nuclear non-proliferation regime. Dialogue with the Russian government, the Cooperative Threat Reduction program (also known as Nunn-Lugar), sanctions…
Domestic Structure, Economic Growth, and Russian Foreign Policy
Although Russia seems to be in perpetual economic crisis and political transition, it is not too early to begin contemplating the impact of economic growth on Russian foreign policy. Even…
Could Norway Trigger a Nuclear War? Notes on the Russian Command and Control System
Next January, Norway is planning to launch a research rocket similar to the one that caused a false alarm in the Russian strategic command and control system in 1995. An…