Understanding global security - Peter Hough

MILITARY THREATS TO SECURITY FROM STATES
hallmarks of the Cold War, when a US spy plane near the south coast of China was
downed in a confrontation with Chinese fighter planes.
US–Cuban relations
All forms of political relations between the USA and Cuba since 1990 have remained
as hostile as they were in the previous three decades. The US have maintained an
economic boycott of its leftist island neighbour which has had far more impact in the
post-Cold War years since Cuba has lost the economic support of the USSR.
US–Russian relations
While undoubtedly more cordial than during the Cold War and smoother than with
those countries who have not abandoned Communism, US–Russian relations since
the 1991 collapse of the USSR have not been exactly harmonious. The Kosovan War
of 1999 was a bitter humiliation for Russia since to them it appeared to demonstrate
western contempt for their long-cherished foreign policy goal of ‘pan-Slavism’, in
which Eastern Europe was understood as part of their sphere of influence. 2 Having
stopped the UN from taking action against Yugoslavia, the Russian government failed
to dissuade NATO from acting in its place. A desperate attempt to claw out some role
in Kosovo saw Russian troops unilaterally dispatched to Prisitina, where NATO forces
were gathering in a post-war peacekeeping force. A desperate scramble ensued
as Russian troops secured Pristina airport in advance of the British in an incident
which came close to producing a direct skirmish between the two sides not seen
during the Cold War. 3 Russia secured a role in the peacekeeping process but, in a sign
of how things had changed, were unable to maintain sole control of the airport since
support troops were blocked from flying over former allies Hungary or Romania due
to western pressure on their new allies.
The persistence of NATO
The encroachment of the US and their allies into their backyard in Russian eyes was
confirmed, when in the same year as the Kosovan War, NATO expanded its membership
to recruit three of their former Warsaw Pact allies; Poland, Hungary and the
Czech Republic. Far from exiting the stage after 1990, a Cold War alliance had not
only played on but extended its role and moved closer to its original object of
containment. NATO have repeatedly assured Russia that their containment is not
its game anymore and, while expanding eastwards, gave them a guarantee that no
east-facing missiles would be sited in the territories of the new member states. The
fact remained, however, that this was an alliance set up to counter Russian (Soviet)
power and it was still there.
Re-working the famous explanation of its first Secretary-General, Lord Ismay,
50 years earlier, as to what the purpose of the organization was, Schweller in 2001
stated that ‘NATO essentially serves the same purposes today that it always has: to
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