West versus East, the age-old battle of capitalism in opposition to communism, was the underlying factor of the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. After the break-up of the Soviet Union, many former Russian controlled territories created their own countries and governments mirroring that of Russia’s. As the years passed, these countries are now finding themselves pulled between their historical Russian ties and European opportunities. This split had caused a lot of uproar in these countries on their future alliance, and has been the one of the lasting areas of conflict between the Russia and Europe. One conflict in particular, the Russo-Georgian War, rocked global politics for the five days that it lasted and demonstrated that these conflicts are still potentially volatile. Years have passed and now a new threat has arisen and the sharp rift between the West and Russia is apparent again. The Ukrainian Crisis, a conflict now reaching the stage of military intervention, has caught the world’s eye, and is showing very similar happenings that transpired to create the Russo-Georgian War, and it may likely end in a similar manner.
Many outside observers to the Russo-Georgian War believe it was a perfect example of Russian imperialism, a remnant of the Soviet past that still persists in the back of Russians' minds. The Russian public, however, denied this claim, some seeing this conflict as a proxy war with the US, like those fought within the Cold War. Putin’s regime however is highly supportive of this imperialistic agenda within the country. (“Shlapentokh”). The war began on August 7, 2008, a day before the start of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. (“Lašas”). It was spurred when Georgian forces responded to attacks by secessionists i...
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...ernational affairs and government, on his take on the result of the Russo-Georgian War, “Russia's actions have distanced the country from Western institutions. But the deeper worry is that the Kremlin and average Russians can now imagine a world in which they do not have to care.” (“King”)
Works Cited
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Shlapentokh, Dmitry. "Russian Nationalists As Georgian Allies." Iran & The Caucasus 16.3 (2012): 337-353.Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.
"Timeline: Ukraine's Political Crisis." Online Posting. - Aljazeera. 15 May 2014. Web. 19 May 2014.
Crockatt, Richard. The fifty years war : the United States and the Soviet Union in world politics, 1941-1991. London; New York; Routledge, 1995.
International politics as one may imagine includes foreign affairs. This is why the topic and focus of this paper revolves around the current event within Eastern Europe. It will focus on both Russia, Ukraine, and the world, and from it, it will be analyzed by using the resources provided within class. After all it is a International Politics course, and one of the best ways to effectively put the skills and knowledge to use is to focus on an event or current event. The paper will attempt to go over in a chronological order of the events that has happened, and what is happening currently over in Ukraine. Afterwards, an analyzed input will be implemented providing reasoning behind Russia's actions, and actions of the world, and potentially some solutions.
Vladimir Putin is the elected president of the Russian Federation. The former member of the KGB is known to some as a torturer, a tyrant, and a murderer and is known to have plans to recreate the Soviet Union. While saying that letting Crimea become a part of Russia is giving in to Putin’s communist ideals, Crimea is largely Russian, and is not strategically important to the European Union’s goals. Yanukovich’s (The former Prime Minister of Ukraine) security forces fired upon and killed dozens of protestors. He was ousted ...
The information war between the West and Russia had intensified once again and reached levels higher than the levels of Russo-Georgia war (2008). Russian media naturally is defending its annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol as a democratic referendum and justifying the military intervention as the protection of rights of the Russian population of Crimea. The referendum was very controversial since it had an unusually high voter turnout and the Pro-Russian vote has created speculations that the referendum has been falsified by the Russian government. The Western media condemns Russia for the anne...
Suny, Ronald Grigor. The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
The big crisis in Ukraine is starting to get out of hand. The government cannot even figure out what to do, and is getting kicked out of office. There are street protests happening all over Ukraine especially at Kyiv’s Independence Square. There is civil unrest against Yanukovych because he did not do what the people wanted to have. After everything is starting to cool down, Russian troops start to enter the country. The crisis was getting so far out of hand that the US and the EU had to figure out how to help, so they got involved in the crisis. The Ukraine conflict was triggered by Yanukovych declining the EU deal, and when everything was getting settled down in Ukraine, Russia invades Ukraine.
When Russians talk about the war of 1812 they do not mean the war in which Washington was burned by the British, but the war in which, apparently, the Russians burned Moscow. This war between the French republican empire and the Russian Tsarist Empire was as remarkable a high - spot in the history of the latter as it was a low - spot in the history of Napoleon. For Russia, it was one of those rare moments in history when almost all people, serfs and lords, merchants and bureaucrats, put aside their enmities and realized that they were all Russians. Russia, sometimes called ‘a state without a people’, seemed to become, for a few precious months, one people, and never quite forgot the experience.
Snyder, Timothy. "Ukraine: The Haze of Propaganda." NYRblog. The New York Review of Books, 01 Mar. 2014. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.
In a speech broadcast to London via radio on October 1st, 1939, Winston Churchill famously said: “I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma (Murdico, 1).” While it is true that Churchill was referring to his inability to predict the country’s actions in regards to the impending world war, the words can be used to illustrate a general confusion and lack of understanding, by both western and eastern powers alike, concerning the massive nation. Russia, as it stands today, currently encompasses about 6.6 million square miles of land (Murdico, 1), and is the largest country in the world by land mass. Along with a large area, Russia also has quite the large reputation; having been through two world wars, governments both communist and imperial, and a slew of civil wars and internal struggles. Russian politics and history is still today a hot topic of conversation, yet very little of this conversation mentions anything pre-WWI. It may be difficult to say exactly why this is so, as a great number of factors, including first an foremost our own cultural biases and perspectives come in to play, but it is true that Russia may confuse us because it is nearly impossible to categorize as being entirely “western” or “eastern” in nature. It is not really European nor is it truly Asian. Instead it has been shaped by a blend of different cultures and political ideologies that certainly include both European and Asian influence. Playing a huge role in this is the geography of the area; its location lends itself to contact with and, more importantly, being attacked by surrounding societies while still being pushed up against the corner of a continent in an almost isola...
This paper focuses on the protests in Ukraine and seeks to examine the different aspects related to its effect on Ukraine’s relations with the international community. This paper also discusses the role of other political leaders inside Ukraine on the protests and some of the key actors involved. The approach used to write this paper is realistic. Ukraine’s self-interest combined with the economic and military power of Russia is the possible reason of the decision made by Ukraine. As this case basically deals with power and self-interests of countries, realism will best help to understand and comprehend this case.
Shortly after the decline of the agreement, Yanukovych accepted a “new deal from Russia in the form of $15 billion in aid and other economic benefits (Curran). This led to a massive protest in the once beautiful city of Kiev, which is now a battlefield of government officials versus citizens who disagree with the president's decision to side with Russia, a country who has a vivid histor...
Lafeber, W. (2002), America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945-2000. 9th edn. New-York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
This war has given rise to a huge influx of racial hatred that has again helped Putin. Because the majority of the Chechen’s are Muslim, and not of the same ethnic background as Russians, racial discrimination has helped to boost the wars popularity and subsequently Putins. The security of oil in the southern Caucasus states and its transportation routes are the main influential factors in the...
In a Post soviet environment World has evovled around a unipolar system with united states having a preponderance in international matters. The remanants of the cold war still haunting europe. Most of the Eastern European nations formally allied with soviet union are now turing away from russia towards European union. The Reasons for this paradigm shift owes a lot to the democratic ways of the liberal western world and the economic ties and stability being offered to its allies. Hitherto Ukraine was in a dilemma whether to join the western block or to to under the patronage and shadow of Russia. The Multi ethnic population of Ukraine has different opinions. Some favour Russia and others favour European union. Their choices seems to be motivated by geographic and cultural proximity. The Immediate cause of the current crisis traces its origin to the Ukrainian presidents descision to forfeit an agreement with the european union. And Endorsing the russian aid in terms of a bail out plan and an added gas price reduction. So the current crisis has far reaching political and economic ramifications. If russia pulls out of the economic bail out package there needs to be an alternative. European union has a responsibility to ensure the regional peace. A military action in Ukraine would further deteriorate the situation and may escalate it to a multiparty conflict.
The conflict between the Ukraine and Russia is the Ukraine's most long-standing and deadly crisis; since its post-Soviet independence began as a protest against the government dropping plans to forge closer trade ties with the European Union. The conflict between Russia and the Ukraine stems from more than twenty years of weak governance, the government’s inability to promote a coherent executive branch policy, an economy dominated by oligarchs and rife with corruption, heavy reliance on Russia, and distinct differences between Ukraine's population from both Eastern and Western regions in terms of linguistics, religion and ethnicity (Lucas 2009).