The Deteriorating Relationship Between Russia and The United States

In the past few weeks, the United States push in supplying weapons in Ukraine, has caused the warm ties that was once between the United States and Russia are now growing cold as values shift within the Trump Administration.  So, what is changing within the administration that caused so much tension to resurge during this past year?

Since before the Cold War, the United States and Russia have always had a somewhat “chilly” relationship; constantly arguing over which of the two States is superior to the other. With the 2016 election placing Donald Trump into the Presidential office, there was a huge belief that this tension would evaporate because of the supposed friendship Trump has with the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. I believed that ties with Russia would be strengthened into a much friendlier relationship. From what I have seen in this past year, though, has changed my views extremely on the progress of that relationship or the hope that the United States and Russia will ever stay on good terms with one another.

The solid relationship that Russia and the United States started at the beginning of 2017 is now slowly deteriorating back into their rigid form of diplomacy that have gone between them for decades, even after the end of the Cold War. Now, one of the reasons that this change is happening is because there has been a shift in values within the oval office, and a different ideology on how to approach the Russian situation.

Previous advisers, such as former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, and other influential advisers to Donald Trump, were very much in favor of warmer ties with Russia. By making them an ally to the United States through the new Administration, it opens up that relationship and allows for more cooperation in business dealings, that many members of cabinet and Trump himself, had with the Russians. Now, most of those people have been dismissed or resigned, and the current individuals surrounding and advising the President are very traditional when it comes to dealing with Russian diplomacy. While I wouldn’t characterize this flip to be a bad thing, the fact that Russia was one of the only countries in support of Donald Trump’s Presidency, it’s concerning to be turning or breaking ties with any allies that we can get currently, at least in my opinion.

The United States decision to step into the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, to prevent Russian control is similar to the stances that they would take during the Cold War. The United States supplying radical groups in Afghanistan is similar to the position that America took a couple of weeks ago. While this is not the first time America has aided Ukraine against Russia, this is the first time the Trump Administration has acted aggressively against our supposed ally, Russia, and his good friend Vladimir Putin.

Perhaps there is a better way to deal with the situation, besides provoking outrage, such as supplying weapons to rebelling states, or stepping out of the situation completely, by allowing Russia to take a dominant position on the world stage, and the United States not doing anything about it. I think that either side has good reasons, but that we need to find something in the middle, because right now our other way does not work. It’s difficult because Russia and the United States has always seemed to attempt to influence one another through military action, but perhaps instead of being overly favorable to Russia or being completely against any diplomacy with them, we should shift our values in a different direction.

If President Trump has a good relationship with President Putin, perhaps using that relationship to calm tides when it comes to conflict between both States could be useful. This way there is a way to connect between two leaders that might help us solve some of our issues in Foreign affair. We need to have that opener for conversation, so if Putin doesn’t listen to President Trump, or does not consider President Trump to be a reliable leader, we lose the ability to make agreements with the Russians and play more of a hand in what Russia is doing internationally. Although, I am aware that it’s very unlikely that Putin would back down or allow an intervention if he was serious about something. Perhaps by doing this, we can prevent the complete deterioration of our ties with Russia