The Beginning of a New Era1. After the Soviet Union fell, a new era began, but as the U.S.S.R. was breaking up, antiappeasement folks were saying that the Soviet Union was still dangerous, since it had lost member states as a result of economic conditions, not because of philosophical changes, while disengagement-favoring elites held that since Europe was now safe from attack, U.S. forces could be reduced, and Moscow WAS changing.
i. After Russian president Boris Yeltsin successfully broke up a coup that had captured Mikhail Gorbachev, he became a hero, felled the Soviet Union, and ultimately turned Russia completely into a democratic state.
2. Ever since the fall of the Soviet Union, foreign policy may have become harder, since before, it was basically anti-Soviet Union, and today, there are threats that there may be more coups in Russia that can reclaim power and turn Russia Communist again; that fighting within and among the remnants of the Soviet empire (i.e. Bosnia and Serbia) could draw other countries in; that ancient antagonism in the Middle East could explode; that nuclear weapons can explode; and that China could rise to be a threat.
i. How the U.S. reacts to such threats depends on the political elite, some of which say that the U.S. shouldn’t be the “world’s policeman,” others of which say the U.S. is the only power strong enough to prevent the rise of regional aggressors.
3. The United Nations has played a large role in settling conflicts among member nations, and now that it is no longer dominated by a conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, it can act more certainly without appearing to break its neutrality.
i. U.N. missions (like the one in Kuwait) have become more diverse and unopposed by the Big Five, and U.N. Peacekeeping Missions have also become more numerous.
4. Some people want the U.S. to work through the U.N. while others don’t want U.S. policy controlled by other nations.
i. Liberals like the U.S. to use the U.N.; conservatives favor acting w/o U.N. authority or controls.
