Cold War Dbq Essay

The Cold War was a long period of tension between the democracies in the Western part of the World and the communist countries in Eastern Europe. The United States led the west and the Soviet Union led Eastern Europe. The Cold War ended in 1991 after the Soviet Union fell. After this war, Russia and America’s relationship was going on a downward spiral. The contemporary relationship between Russia and America does mark a Second Cold War, because just because Russia and America have similar hopes to achieve they both have completely different ways of achieve those goals, and in many cases these differences in opinions have caused problems between the two.

Russia’s opposition to the United States has become severe over the years. The way

They are willing to do what it takes to try to not only protect themselves against Russia but also Ukraine. Russia began to feel rebellion in Ukraine so they began intervening on their civil rights. America believes this is very wrong and punishable. Russia agrees with the United States that “every nation has an inalienable sovereign right to determine its own development path, choose allies and political regimes, create an economy and ensure its security”(Source B). That is where the similarities end though according to Vladimir Putin Russia “has always respected these rights and always will”(Source B). This shows that Russia does not even believe, or admit that what they are doing is wrong. James Mattis is Trumps Pentagon pick and at his senate confirmation hearing he portrayed Russia as a “strategic adversary[Rival] and placed it at Number one on his list of security threats”( Source E). The last time Russia was the number one threat to America was in the Cold War. With all of the other threats to our country, including ISIS, Russia was put at the top of the list which shows just how serious the huge contemporary issue between America and Russia has truly become. Another example that created skepticism about Russia to the U.S. and other countries, was when there was a vote by the U.N. Security council on a resolution to “condemn the chemical weapon attack in Syria”(Source F). The resolution failed because Russia vetoed it. This was a very serious thing that finally made everyone realize how dangerous Russia really is. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Kelly stated that “Russia once again has chosen to side with Assad, even when the rest of the world, overwhelmingly comes together to condemn this murderous regime”(Source F). This shows that Russia does not have people on their side, a lot of countries are beginning to get very skeptical of them not just the United