Modern Russia and the International Community: New Cold War

3 units

The Cold War supposedly ended in the late 1980s, yet the United States and Russian Federation are on the brink of another period of escalating tensions. In a recent press conference the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, issued a dire warning to the United States and its NATO allies. He said the forward deployment of U.S. Aegis Ashore missiles in Romania posed an offensive threat to Russia, and for this reason the world is in great danger. This course examines how this new era of strained relations between nuclear powers came to pass with special emphasis on U.S.-Russian relations from 1989 to 2016. Ancillary topics include the Ukraine crisis and Erdogan's volte-face with Moscow.