The Cold War Continues: From Joseph Stalin to Vladimir Putin Essay

"Nobody and nothing will stop Russia..." -- Vladimir Putin In March of 2014 Russia invaded Ukraine, unleashing a maddening flurry of concern across the world. Originally the concern was how to defend Crimea Ukraine from Putin’s forces, however, the concern has since changed. Seemingly overnight, Putin managed to worm his troops into Crimea, and dominate part of Ukraine. But where does this expansion of power end? Trying to delegate and monitor a power-hungry politician is now the focus of nearly every government in the Western world. In an article written by The Guardian’s Ian Traynor, it states that Putin has declared that if he wanted to, â€Å"Russian forces could conquer Ukrainian capital in two weeks.† This amount of confidence is highly unnerving considering Russia’s track record on simply showing up and invading a country seemingly out of nowhere. That specific action and behavior has been associated with Russian leader Joseph Stalin during the Cold war, and now is a continuous and growing concern with Vlad imir Putin. Vladimir Putin’s aggressive actions toward the western world, specifically Ukraine, is inspired by the steps Joseph Stalin took during his rise to power by developing a cult mentality, using brute force to invade countries such as Greece and Turkey, and issuing threats to all countries who disagreed with his expansion of power and communism during the Cold War. It was Stalin’s increasing aggression towards Europe and the United during the Cold War that made him one of the most feared and unpredictable individuals at that time. Today, Putin is exhibiting identical behavior by following in Stalin’s footsteps and is issuing threats in addition to ignoring what Europe and the United States has to say. At the ... ...5788398/2D5751C189D04504PQ/10?accountid=14902 Ian Traynor, â€Å"Putin claims Russian forces ‘could conquer Ukraine capital in two weeks.’† The Guardian, September 2, 2014. Web. 5 May 2015. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/02/putin-russian-forces-could-conquer-ukraine-capital-kiev-fortnight Julie A. Cassiday, Emily D. Johnson, â€Å"Putin, Putiniana and the Question of a Post-Soviet Cult of Personality,† The Slavonic and Eastern European Review 88 (2010): 680-707. Kennedy-Pipe, Caroline. Stalin’s Cold War: Soviet Strategies in Europe, 1943 to 1956. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995. Robert Skidelsky, â€Å"In Ukraine, Putin may be accelerating his own demise.† The Daily Star Lebanon, September 3, 2014. Web. 5 May 2015. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Commentary/2014/Sep-03/269383-in-ukraine-putin-may-be-accelerating-his-own-demise.ashx#axzz3COhHc9EU