Roots of Russia, U.S. distrust 6

 U.S., RUSSIAN RELATIONS POST WW2 PART 6

NEW COLD WAR BEGINS

Boris Yeltsin stated that his goal was to transform social economics into a capitalist market economy and nationwide privatization. The 1990's were a period of economic depression and much anxiety about the future. Yeltsin survived a coup attempt and cracked down on political opponents. It was no easy task to move a country from communism to capitalism. There was also a war in Chechnya that was suppressed by the Russian Federation. One must note that the Soviet Union was the first to take notice of the danger of Islamic fundamentalism. While dealing with much adversity, Yeltsin was still re-elected in 1996, but he was in ill health with severe heart problems. On Dec. 31, 1999, Yeltsin resigned and the then prime minister, Vladimir Putin, succeeded him. Putin had moved up quickly from the deputy mayor of St. Petersburg to the prime minister in less than 8 years. Yeltsin had appointed him prime minister in August of 1999, and he was approved by a strong margin in the Duma. He ran for president in the 2000 election and won with 53% of the vote. The Russian economy grew for 8 straight years, helped by high commodity prices. In his first four year term the Gross domestic product increased by 72%. He had some success in diminishing the power of the oligarchs. He was re-elected in 2004 with 73% of the vote. In his second term he increasingly took more power unto himself. He was also president of the "Unity Party" which was becoming the dominate party in the country. He was seen as taking more and more power and began to see an increase in demonstrations and opposition. At the same time he also had made meaningful reforms that bettered the life of Russians. The Unity Party won 64% of the vote in the Duma elections and Putin enjoyed a high popularity with the citizens.

Russia and the United States had favorable relations in many ways, considerable success in limiting nuclear weapons, a joint space venture that continues today, joint support against Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and many more agreements too numerous for this blog. The inclusion of Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary by NATO in 1999 was not protested too much because of the instability of the country and all the problems associated with shifting to a free market economy. But when the next NATO expansion was proposed, and then consummated, the attitude changed to a wariness of the motives of the U.S. and the West. The plan proposed by Bush 2  to station a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic was countered by the Russian Federation. The Federation implied their missiles would be aimed at those installations and it was even suggested that they might take them out. Relations definitely became more tense. There were many meetings with Bush 1, then Clinton, Bush 2, and finally Obama. While much progress was made, the expansion of NATO  to former Warsaw Pact countries and then the placing of missiles on their border set the stage for much more distrust. Additionally, Putin accused Secretary of State Hilary Clinton of being involved with internal opposition in the 2011 election. Joe Biden made derogatory comments about the Russian economy and military power, stating that the U.S. had the stronger hand. Neo-cons continuously bragged of defeating the Soviet Union.

In 2008, due to constitutional limits on consecutive terms. Putin was barred from running for president. Dmitry Medvedev was elected president and he appointed Putin as his prime minister. This sparked protests and outrage across the country. Prime minister Putin worked on correcting the demographic declines in the country and encouraging an increase in the birth rate with subsidies. The church was re instituted and the Russian Orthodox church was repaid for property seized after the revolution. In 2012 he was able to again run for the presidency and won with 63% of the vote. While all polling places were monitored, the opposition claimed fraud and international groups claimed irregularities. Tensions with the West increased. In 2012 the Russian Duma, with Putin's support, outlawed homosexual propaganda to minors. They stated that no action was to be taken against homosexuals, but the law was to protect the children. This was followed by outrage in the West.

Up to this time one would have to say Russian actions were mostly resistance to any further encroachment by NATO and a desire to set their own path. The verbal onslaught from the U.S. and the West increased with accusations against Putin and a blatant attempt to embarrass Russia. This was evident during the 2014 Winter Olympics, when Bob Costas, the announcer for NBC sports, degraded everything he could about the Russian facilities and expressed his political bias against everything Russian. While Vladimir Putin may not be the West's image of a democratic leader and this may be true, this situation was not a one sided affair. It seems Russia and Putin pose a dilemma for the U.S. neo-cons who would like to isolate Russia from all foreign affairs and would prefer a cold war and the left who view Putin's rejection of socialism and his resistance to allow homosexual activists a free reign in Russia as treasonous to their cause.

This situation was about to enter a new era of not just Russian resistance, but actual provocation by Putin toward the West.

originally published 1/29/17  part 6 of 7