Nixon's Policy Toward the U.S.S.R. Term Paper

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When a progressive Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev came to power, the fall of the Soviet Union was immanent and inevitable.

After the fall of the Soviet Union under Reagan's watch, his Vice President Bush inherited the problem of dealing with a fragmented Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Bush Sr.'s foreign policy toward Moscow was largely passive, arguably much more passive than any of his predecessors were because the Cold War was over and the threat of nuclear war temporarily set aside. Moreover, the dissolution of the Soviet Union was still taking place and Bush Sr. watched while new nation-states emerged out of the Soviet Bloc. However, Bush Sr. negotiated nuclear disarmament treaties with Gorbachev and his successor Boris Yeltsin and willingly recognized the independence of many formerly Soviet republics.

Relations with Russia again grew tense under President Clinton largely because of the conflicts that arose in the Balkans. The Soviet Union had been a blanket republic encompassing countless tribal, ethnic, cultural, and religious groups. When the U.S.S.R. was dissolved, former Soviet Republics clamored for independence. However, the geo-political boundaries were all but arbitrary and not based on their ethnic characters. In some cases, whole ethnic groups were marginalized and persecuted as minorities under their new leaders.

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Russia's policy toward the Balkan region was self-serving and thus overlooked many of the humanitarian crises taking place in Eastern Europe. President Clinton's foreign policy toward Russia, therefore, sought to balance humanitarian ideals with regional stability. In particular, Clinton responded aggressively to Slobodan Milosevic, a Serbian dictator who conducted widespread progroms of ethnic cleansing in Serbia. The Clinton-led UN-sponsored invasion of Yugoslavia irked Russia and damped foreign relations with Moscow.

Since Clinton left office and Bush Jr. assumed the position of President, relations with Russia have only partially thawed. A former member of the Soviet secret service KGB, President Putin has been a vocal opponent of many U.S. foreign policy decisions. His overbearing domestic policy has all but stopped short democracy in Russia and tensions in the Balkans continue to be a point of disagreement between Bush's and Putin's administrations. Bush Jr.'s foreign policy toward Russia is therefore not dissimilar from that of his father: careful waiting, watching, and preparedness. Neither Bush Sr. Nor Jr. developed any cohesive plan or policy toward Russia. Rather, both dealt with Moscow on a case-by-case basis.

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