There is a sharp contrast between how Russia views NATO and issues of European security and how Russia views the US-led security alliances in Asia with Japan (JASA) and Korea (KASA). While NATO expansion has triggered a large Russian diplomatic counter-offensive and a gust of criticism in the Russian press and scholarly publications, efforts to maintain and even revitalize JASA and KASA have been ignored or treated neutrally–even sympathetically. Since Yeltsin's trips to Tokyo and Seoul in November 1993, Russia has formally praised US alliances with Japan and Korea as enhancing regional security. NATO and the Asian alliances were established during the height of the Cold War with the primary but not sole mission of containing Soviet power. With the demise of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, Russia's disparate views on US alliances in Europe and Asia might seem puzzling. […]
Memo #:
52
Series:
1
PDF:
PDF URL:
http://www.gwu.edu/~ieresgwu/assets/docs/ponars/pm_0052.pdf
