Breaking Vicious Circle of the US-Russia Relations

Abstract

Despite relative normalization of the US-Russia dialogue in early 2013 and their impressive cooperation on Syria and Iran later that year, the relations on the whole remain extremely fragile, volatile and at the same time stagnant. Their traditional agenda, based on arms control, is crumbling; leadership is both countries is not regarding positive US-Russian partnership as central for their vital national interests fulfillment; and the share of contradictions is growing. At best, this deprives the sides of many opportunities to advance their interests through cooperation. At worst, this could spark a new serious crisis by. The author argues that the fundamental problem of the US-Russia relations is their old-fashioned philosophy, centered on strategic deterrence and balancing. This philosophy, the paper claims, in its turn predetermines an agenda of the relations, which poorly reflects the real challenges that US and Russia face in the world of today and tomorrow. The author claims that the new philosophy of the US-Russia relations should be based not on strategic deterrence and strategic balance in a Cold war understanding, but on clear recognition that the sides need each other and need to cooperate in order to deal with real challenges and achieve real opportunities.