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THE ROLE OF RUSSIA IN TNE PRESENTWORLD
Russia was the central and strongest part of the former USSR. USSRcontinued as the second superpower of the world till it disintegrated by the liberalpolicies of its General Secretary, Gorbachev in 1990. Though the disintegration of USSR weakened Russia, it is certainly not out of reckoning in world politics.Recent political developments like the total response of Russia in Georgia in2008, its aggressive policies in Central Asia, counter measures to stop expansionof NATO alliance further east, new military bases, attempts to move closer toChina and similar manoeuvres prove the rising confidence and importance of Russia in the world politics.
GEORGIA ARMED CONFLICT
Georgia as aCaucasuscountry of Eurasia, situated at the juncture of Western AsiaandEastern EuropewithRussiain the north was a part of the Soviet Union till it declared independence on April 9, 1991, shortly before thecollapse of the USSR. Georgia is keen to joinNATOand theEuropean Union.
 
Two regions of Georgia, namelyAbkhaziaandSouth Ossetia, after simmering disputes and widespread inter-ethnic violence and wars with Georgia,supported byRussia, declared independence from Georgia in 1995.Hostilities escalatedbetween Georgia and its breakaway state of SouthOssetiaescalated in July 2008. After the Georgian bombing of the SouthOssetian capital,Tskhinvaliin the lateevening of August, Georgian armed forces began pushing into South Ossetia. Russia sent troops into South Ossetia to helpthe latter.The conflictbetween Georgia on the one side and Russia, Ossetian,and Abkhazian separatists on the other quickly escalated into a full-scalewarinwhich Georgian forces were decimated.
 
 Russian military troops invadedAbkhazia, and seized additional territoriesof Western Georgia.Russia recognizedthe Georgian regions of South Ossetiaand Abkhazia as independent states.
US-RUSSIA RELATIONS
Both Russia and the United States of America are very important countriesin today’s world politics. The relationship between the United States of Americaand Russia is at its lowest ebb since the last twenty-five years.This is some thing that both of these two countries would like to change.Russia has been hoping that with Obama at the helm, things would changequickly. With George Bush at the helm, things were a disaster and things kept ongoing from worse to worse. Obama says that he will try his best to improverelationships with Russia; however, there are many people who are very skepticalabout this because of the precedence and the state of the world politics at this junctureEven after the end of the Cold War, Russia and the United States of America have not enjoyed cordial and friendly relations with each other. This issome thing that both of these two countries are anxious to change now. They hada deterioration of their relationship during the time of George Bush as thePresident of the United States of America. However, it looks as if the UnitedStates of America under Barack Obama as President will change this.As Obama looks to visit Dimity Medvedev and then Putin in 2009, it looksas if Obama attaches importance to Russia as he has visited Russia before hevisited China and Japan. This is how it is seen in Russia and also all over theworld.
 
The visit is of course good for Russia-US relationships in future. It looks asif Russia and the US who actually almost came into conflict a few days during theGeorgia war of 2008 are intent on improving their relationship. The United Statesof America and Russia are trying for a new treaty to replace the START treatythat the United States and Russia had signed a few years back in order todecrease their respective nuclear weapons in contrast to the reluctance of George Bush for signing such a new treaty of arms reduction with Russia. BarackObama is treating Russia more as a friend since he came to the helm in USA.Russia feels this is a very good sign.Thus signing a nuclear weapons reduction treaty is some thing that Russiaand the United States are hoping to do as soon as possible. President BarackObama visited Russia in 2009 to sign a new treaty with Russia to replace theSTART-I treaty which had run out a few months back and which had not beenrenewed by the former President, George Bush. President Obama began the tourwith a wrong move. He tried to play off Putin and Medvedev against each otherand failed miserably. Obama had been overconfident in trying out a move likethat at this crucial time, especially in a place where even the slightest move isscrutinized in detail under a microscope.Obama’s meeting with Medvedev was not as successful as it was hopedand they still have a large number of differences still and it will require a lot of time and efforts to resolve them.It looks as if Russia wants USA to treat it more as a friend now that theCold War is a distant memory. The United States of America till Barack Obamatook over as the President of the United States of America had been secretlyallying and supportive of the enemies of Russia through its clandestineintelligence outfit, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and busy also buildingbases near and around Russia in Central Asia and has embarked on a missiledefense system in the region apart from being aggressive in expanding NATOnetwork up to the western border of Russia. These measures made Russia
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