Carnegie Moscow Center
The Lisbon NATO summit is a critical event for making the Alliance between Europe and North America fit the security challenges of the twenty-first century.
With Russia engaged in an effort to develop a secure sense of its own national identity, the West must initiate constructive discussions with Moscow to build up the trust necessary for cooperation and coexistence.
As NATO grapples with the future of its deterrence posture, it faces the contentious question of whether reducing or withdrawing forward-based U.S. nuclear weapons in Europe would unacceptably reduce the security of its member states.
A failure by the U.S. Senate to ratify New START before the end of the year may cause Moscow to doubt the U.S. commitment to improving ties with Russia and could put the reset in bilateral relations on hold.
Based on the Obama Administration’s April Nuclear Posture Review, conventional weapons are poised to gain a more prominent role in the U.S. deterrence posture, with implications for extended deterrence, arms control, and U.S. strategic stability.
Instead of helping Russia to transform itself, the reset between Russia and the West ultimately serves to legitimize the Russian system of personalized power and enable the preservation of the status quo.
The United States, Europe, and Russia have a crucial stabilizing role to play in the world, but they must begin by transforming the Euro-Atlantic space into a stronger, inclusive security community.
The recent U.S. midterm elections could mean delay or even reversal for the Obama administration’s foreign policy agenda toward Russia, particularly on issues like New START, the “123 agreement” on civilian nuclear cooperation, and trade relations.
In this global era, the world faces a host of security challenges which cannot be resolved by any one nation, especially through the unilateral use of military force. One key issue that requires urgent international attention is the military use of outer space.
The U.S.-Russia reset is off to a solid beginning, but it is incomplete in many respects; while the countries have made good progress in their relationship, much remains to be done.