"Nobody and nothing will stop Russia..."
-- Vladimir Putin
In March of 2014 Russia invaded Ukraine, unleashing a maddening flurry of concern across the world. Originally the concern was how to defend Crimea Ukraine from Putin’s forces, however, the concern has since changed. Seemingly overnight, Putin managed to worm his troops into Crimea, and dominate part of Ukraine. But where does this expansion of power end? Trying to delegate and monitor a power-hungry politician is now the focus of nearly every government in the Western world. In an article written by The Guardian’s Ian Traynor, it states that Putin has declared that if he wanted to, “Russian forces could conquer Ukrainian capital in two weeks.” This amount of confidence is highly unnerving considering Russia’s track record on simply showing up and invading a country seemingly out of nowhere. That specific action and behavior has been associated with Russian leader Joseph Stalin during the Cold war, and now is a continuous and growing concern with Vladimir Putin.
Vladimir Putin’s aggressive actions toward the western world, specifically Ukraine, is inspired by the steps Joseph Stalin took during his rise to power by developing a cult mentality, using brute force to invade countries such as Greece and Turkey, and issuing threats to all countries who disagreed with his expansion of power and communism during the Cold War. It was Stalin’s increasing aggression towards Europe and the United during the Cold War that made him one of the most feared and unpredictable individuals at that time. Today, Putin is exhibiting identical behavior by following in Stalin’s footsteps and is issuing threats in addition to ignoring what Europe and the United States has to say.
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Ian Traynor, “Putin claims Russian forces ‘could conquer Ukraine capital in two weeks.’” The Guardian, September 2, 2014. Web. 5 May 2015.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/02/putin-russian-forces-could-conquer-ukraine-capital-kiev-fortnight
Julie A. Cassiday, Emily D. Johnson, “Putin, Putiniana and the Question of a Post-Soviet Cult of Personality,” The Slavonic and Eastern European Review 88 (2010): 680-707.
Kennedy-Pipe, Caroline. Stalin’s Cold War: Soviet Strategies in Europe, 1943 to 1956. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995.
Robert Skidelsky, “In Ukraine, Putin may be accelerating his own demise.” The Daily Star Lebanon, September 3, 2014. Web. 5 May 2015.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Commentary/2014/Sep-03/269383-in-ukraine-putin-may-be-accelerating-his-own-demise.ashx#axzz3COhHc9EU
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 ...
Historical precedents show that that Putin may be on a similar path as dictators in the past. Putin already has the propaganda machine necessary, and has even made many Eastern Ukrainian citizens in territory occupied by Russian separatists believe that their government is comprised of neo-Nazis who seek to massacre its people. According to The Independent, a British nespaper, Putin has even awarded the prestigious “Order of Service to the Fatherland” medal to more than 300 journalists for their “objective coverage” of the Crimea crisis, showing how Russian state propaganda is becoming more and more of a formalized proce...
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...
Insightfulness is a key trait of President Putin. His understanding of the neoconservative foreign policy of the United States has led him to the conclusion that watching another legitimate government fall at the hands of CIA backed terrorists is a crime which must be
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.
Putin is a ruthless leader that has been able to successfully maintain control over his military and political power. When he appears to the public, he preserves that horrible, strong masculinity. He makes sure that he does not appear weak in front of the masses; there are not even many pictures when he is smiling. He seeks to strengthen Russia’s military power and hopefully restore the old pride in Mother Russia. According to Machiavelli, it is important for a ruler to be able to win over his people by entertaining them.
Hanes, Sharon M., and Richard C. Hanes. "Cold War."Enotes.com. 2009. Web. 22 Nov. 2009. .
Following this election victory, Putin passed laws that have increased the power of the president and the power of the federal government. He has expanded the a...
In, Vladimir Putin’s life he wanted to do and see a lot of stuff. He wanted to be a pilot, a sailor, and an intelligence officer. Putin only did one of these things which was been an intelligence officer. When, Putin tried to get a job as an intelligence officer he found out that he had to have a degree in law. It was only in 1970 that Putin was admitted to law department school. After, he finished school he went and tried to get a job working in the States Security Agency. After, about a half year later he was sent to operations personnel retraining courses. After, about 25 to 30 years later Putin was elected as acting president. But on May 7, 2000 Putin was the real president, and after he was president for his term
Focusing on Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, it suggests that he sought a fundamental transformation of the geopolitical structure of the Cold War. Realizing that the continuation of an uneasy truce with the West would be unproductive for both sides, Gorbachev pursued a peaceful program of foreign relations. To that end, he sought to end the division of Europe and to move U.S.-Soviet relations from antagonism to strategic partnership. An integral part of this strategy included the withdrawal of coercive Soviet power from Eastern Europe. Hoping to retain influence or at least “friendly” governments in the region, Gorbachev wanted to ensure Soviet security without preserving a pillar of contentious relations with the West. The “velvet revolutions” were necessary for his success
Hammond, Thomas, Editor. Witnesses to the Origins of the Cold War. University of Washington Press. Seattle, 1982.
Jack Donnelly states that “Theories are beacons, lenses of filters that direct us to what, according to the theory, is essential for understanding some part of the world.” These various theories, or lenses for viewing the world help us understand the way in which countries interact and why things occur in the field of international relations. The two main schools of thought in the field are Realism and Liberalism. One must understand these theories in order to be able to understand what is happening in the world. Understanding the filters that are Liberalism and Realism, one can look to make some sort of understanding as to what is happening right now between the Ukraine and Russia. The subsequent annexation of the province of Crimea by Russia is of paramount importance to multi governmental organisations like the United Nations and the European Union who are looking to understand this event from the Realist perspective as well as the Liberal paradigm.
Walter, LaFeber. America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945-1996. 8th ed. Vol. 8th. New York:
Navalny, Alexey A. 2014. How to Punish Putin. NY : The New York Times, 2014.
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).