Reinvigorating US-Russia relations 2: Patching up hiccups after Iraq war
The first part of the article appeared in the Monday, September 19, 2022, issues of the Daily Graphic.
The Bush administration firmly believed that Putin made a miscalculation in not supporting the US position on Iraq in the lead-up to the Iraq war. Bush had developed closer relationship with Putin even than his “NATO brothers” like Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroder.
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On the contrary, Putin believed that the US President did not view the world through realistic lens. Hanx Blix, the chief of UN weapons inspectors, had reported to the Secretary General that Saddam Hussein did not possess weapons of mass destruction. There was no reason for the US military action in Iraq.
Russia’s diplomatic efforts to avert the war was staggering on the face of the international community, this, however, did not change the military plan of US. In any case, Putin’s decision not to back the war in Iraq did not have long term negative implications for US-Russia relations.
The US President himself was eager to repair the damage caused to their relationship. Bush became attached to Putin also because of the common geostrategic interests that were bringing the two countries together and that is fighting international terrorism and trying to win Russia’s support to curb the influence of what the US terms the “Rogue States”.
On the basis of this, the two world powers will be able to control the spreading of weapons of mass destruction. This tops the list of US foreign policy priorities.
Russia’s relations with Syria and her involvement in the Syrian war signalled to the US that Russia could resurrect and match the US in terms of strategic parity.
The demonstration of Russia’s military might in Aleppo, no matter how analysts of international relations might put it, lifted Russia from a lower segment to a higher level.
US had a limited influence in Syria because of Russia’s influence in this Middle East country. Steadily, Russia was climbing up the ladder. On the premises of the Syrian war, they began to question US hegemony and foresaw the possibility of breaking US unilateralism.
US–Russia relations in the wake of invasion
President Vladimir Putin, like his predecessors, established the traditional relationship between Moscow and Washington. Putin knows he has a colleague in the White House. He is aware of the fact that the two of them take responsible decisions in matters relating to international peace and stability.
After the collapse of the former Soviet Union in December 1991, the US adopted a unilateralist approach to global security issues. The Cold War ended in 1991, the Warsaw Treaty Organisation was dissolved with the dissolution of the former Soviet Union.
Putin patiently witnessed the departure of his former allies into the arena of NATO. This geopolitical process was not sweet in the mouth of Putin. He witnessed the exhibition of US unilateralism in the new world order, where the US was up in the political seesaw.
Putin had no control over the geopolitical changes that placed US ahead of Russia in terms of international politics where the US controlled the Barometer determining international peace and stability.
The current factor that is determining