About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

96 Foreign Aff. 30 (2017)
Responding to Russia's Resurgence: Not Quiet on the Eastern Front

handle is hein.journals/fora96 and id is 1130 raw text is: 




Responding to

Russia's Resurgence

Not   Quiet   on  the
Eastern Front

Ivo  H.  Daalder

    Many observers believe that
          the greatest damage Russia
          has done to U.S. interests in
recent years stems from the Kremlin's
interference in the 2016 U.S. presiden-
tial race. Although there is no question
that Moscow's meddling in American
elections is deeply worrying, it is just
one aspect of the threat Russia poses.
Under  Vladimir Putin, Russia has
embarked  on a systematic challenge to
the West. The goal is to weaken the
bonds between  Europe and the United
States and among EU members,  under-
mine NATO's solidarity, and strengthen
Russia's strategic position in its imme-
diate neighborhood and beyond. Putin
wants nothing less than to return Russia
to the center of global politics by chal-
lenging the primacy that the United
States has enjoyed since the end of the
Cold War. He has undertaken a major
military modernization designed to
intimidate neighbors and weaken NATO,
and he has resorted to the overt use of
military force to establish new facts on
the ground-not just in what Moscow
calls its sphere of privileged interests,
which encompasses all of the former

IVO H. DAALDER is President of the Chicago
Council on Global Affairs and served as U.S.
Ambassador to NATO from 2009 to 2013.
Follow him on Twitter @lvoHDaalder.


Soviet republics, but also further afield,
including in the Middle East, an area
where the U.S. military has long operated
with a free hand.
   For some time now, the Kremlin has
been de facto operating in a war mode,
the Russia scholar Dmitri Trenin has
observed, and Putin has been behaving
like a wartime leader. Washington's
response to this challenge must be
equally strong. First, it is critical to
maintain transatlantic unity; divisions
across the Atlantic and within Europe
weaken  NATO'S ability to respond to
Russian provocations and provide
openings for Moscow  to extend its
reach and influence. The alliance has
responded to the new Russia challenge
by enhancing its presence in eastern
Europe and the Baltic states, and Russia
has so far not threatened the territorial
integrity of any NATO member state.
But NATO  must do more to bolster its
deterrence by sending a clear message
to the Kremlin that it will not tolerate
further Russian aggression or expansion-
ism. At the same time, policymakers
must remember  that the United States
is not at war with Russia; there is no need
for Washington to put itself on a war
footing, even if Moscow has. Dialogue
and open channels of communication
remain essential to avoiding misunder-
standings and miscalculations that could
escalate into a war no one wants.

OLD  HABITS  DIE HARD
After the Cold War ended, American,
European, and Russian strategic objec-
tives appeared to converge on the goal
of fostering the economic and political
transformation of eastern Europe and
Russia and creating an integrated
Europe that would be whole, free, and


30  FOREIGN AFFAIRS

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most