| Description: |
On December 8, 1991, the Soviet Union was dissolved, closing the chapter on nearly 50 years of confrontation between the communist U.S.S.R. and the West. Although the Soviet collapse resulted in an easing of Cold War tensions, massive reductions of nuclear weapons, and a host of independent nations, it also presented post-communist Russia with an excess of challenges. Inside Russia, separatist regions such as Chechnya fought to secede from the state, and the Russian economy struggled to adapt to free market structures. Disputes emerged between Russia and the former Soviet territories it once controlled, while questions lingered about Russia's ambitions in Eastern Europe. What are the political, ethnic, and economic forces at work in Russia, and how is Russian foreign policy taking shape? In this episode, host Peter Krogh sits down with William Hyland, influential policymaker and former editor of Foreign Affairs, and Ambassador Thomas W. Simons, Jr., coordinator of U.S. assistance to the new independent states of the former Soviet Union, to discuss Russia's stance towards its neighbors and U.S. foreign policy towards the region in the post-Cold War world. |
