Resurgent Russia and America's Vital Interests: Re-Thinking US Policy in Europe

This research paper addresses the relevance of Russia's resurgence as an economic, political and military actor on the world scene focusing on the implications for current US policy and objectives. It considers the changing nature of the threat to Europe and questions, not only the appropriate role for NATO in response to that threat, but the course of action the US should pursue with regard to NATO and in light of US national security interests in Europe. The paper considers the following: 1). Russia's post-Cold War decline as well as its impressive recovery over the past decade. Focusing on Russia's growing economic and regional clout, rising nationalism, increasing great power rhetoric and return to autocratic policies, the paper looks at the decline in US " Russian relations during the second term of Russian president Vladimir Putin and questions the appropriate balance the US should strike between conciliation and defending its own strategic objectives, 2). the effects of numerous issues on US " Russian relations to include: the changing role of NATO and its eastward expansion, disagreement on ethnic break-away regions to include Kosovo in Serbia and South Ossetia in Georgia, Iranian nuclear ambitions, and the US Anti-Ballistic Missile proposal for Eastern Europe, 3). a recommendation for strategic-level policy to which the US should adhere concerning its role with NATO and its need for balance on issues within Russia's geo-political sphere of influence.