America and Russia: Permanent Confrontation?

Pres Trump can improve relations with Russia in ways that advance American national interests by going back to Cold War fundamentals. American presidents' first responsibility is to protect and defend the US. In a world in which Russia's leader commands a nuclear arsenal that can erase the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The National interest 2017-09 (151), p.5-24
Main Authors: Allison, Graham T., Black, Conrad, Edelman, Eric, Khalilzad, Zalmay, Legvold, Robert, Lind, Michael, Merry, Robert W., Simes, Dimitri K., Stent, Angela, vanden Heuvel, Katrina, Zakheim, Dov S.
Format: Magazinearticle
Language:English
Subjects:
Cold War
Communication
Conflict
Cooperation
Elections
International cooperation
International organizations
Militia groups
Nuclear war
Nuclear weapons
Presidential elections
Presidents
Superpowers
Symposium
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Pres Trump can improve relations with Russia in ways that advance American national interests by going back to Cold War fundamentals. American presidents' first responsibility is to protect and defend the US. In a world in which Russia's leader commands a nuclear arsenal that can erase the US from the map, sufficient (and often politically painful) cooperation to avoid that outcome is indispensable. Current discussions of punishing Russia for interference in the 2016 presidential election, or sanctioning Russia for destabilizing eastern Ukraine, or countering Russian military deployments by stationing additional US and nato troops in the Baltics, fail to ask an elementary question from strategy 101: and then what? What will Russia do in response? What that meant for US strategy was profound. If, for whatever reason, America found itself in a general nuclear war with the Soviet Union, America would have completely destroyed the enemy and vice versa. This meant an overriding categorical imperative to ensure that a nuclear war would never be fought.
ISSN:0884-9382
1938-1573