Stupin 1

Veniamin Stupin
Professor Melton
ENGL 5
1 May 2016
Is it still the Cold War?
The topic that many people think and talk about today is the relationship between the
United States and Russia. As early as the Cold War, United States and the Soviet Union, now
known as Russia, have had a conflict with each other based on the way a government should be
ran. Investigation should be run through this conflict because maybe the Cold War is still
ongoing but just ended on paper. Many people like Zbigneiw Brzezinski might say After some
forty-five years of political combat, including some secondary military skirmishes, the Cold War
did indeed come to a final end (Brzezinski). This is just something people say to comfort each
other and to make citizens of the countries not panic. This topic matters because it may affect
many people of both the United States and Russia and probably many other countries that get in
between. Even though it is not a physical war, it can cause a lot of trouble. People of both
countries care because it can affect their lives tragically and possibly emotionally. If they dont
care then the two governments might get to such a point of conflict where the citizens of the
countries wont realize what is happening or what happened.
My research focus has shown that there are many people out there that realize how big
this problem might become and that there is truly a Cold War going on. In his article called
Structural Realism after the Cold War, Kenneth N. Waltz points out Francis Fukuyama thinks
that the correlation is perfect: Never once has a democracy fought another democracy (Waltz 6).

Stupin 2

This idea just shows that many people believe that both countries are now democratic after the
Cold War and that there is no more problems between the countries. This leads to the research
question which is, Is the current and past feuds between the United States and Russia still going
as they were during the Cold War? Although some conflicts between the United States and
Soviet Union have ended when Soviet Union first started falling apart in 1991, relations between
the United States and Russia have been the same because day after day they continue to press
each other to the ground by using different tactics.
This topic is widely talked behind closed doors and not many people think much of it. If
someone goes into depth and gets into politics and sees how everything happens, they will see
that this is a problem between the United States and Russia. I have chosen to pursue hat line of
inquiry about it because I believe that people need to realize the consequences this problem can
lead to in the future and how it will affect future generations and current ones. According to
Richard N. Lebow and Janice G. Stein, reviewed by Jim Fergusson, the Cold War affected and
put fear into many people through the introduction of nuclear weapons and as they write in their
article The struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union cannot be reduced simply
to the policy of deterrence (Fergusson 824). This quote just points out that the problem between
United States and the Union Soviet cannot be reduced and made easy to understand and solve
and that it will be ongoing. If it is ongoing then that means that there is and will be an ongoing
Cold War between the two countries. To research more on this topic I read and listen to news
from both the Russian side and the American side. Most of the time, each side is talking about
the same topic but a different view. For example, the American newscast says that the Russians
are supporting certain groups of Ukraine today, while Russian newscasts say that the Americans
are supporting the opposing group in Ukraine. While this maybe propaganda against each other

Stupin 3

or just nonsense, this could actually just be another sight at the Cold War movement. In further
research I intend to find more information on how each country might be working against each
other, or what the correct form of government is because that is what seems to be the biggest
problem.
Some opportunities that might strengthen or add to the discussion of my topic is how the
Cold War relates to how things work today. I believe that information will help me go into depth
with the research and actually relate todays view with the views that people had during the Cold
War. Currently I am doing do some research by watching news from both countries, America and
Russia, and see the similarities and differences in their stories. I will also work on finding and
reading certain books that are related to the Cold War and the present or Cold War Aftermath
books. For more research I will personally conduct an interview with certain politic fanatics like
my father to see what he says because maybe I missed something while watching the news or
reading a newspaper. I feel as though my dad would be a great source because he knows how the
Cold War was because he lived through most of it and he knows how today politics are running.