With the foreign policy debate heating up among presidential candidates, the latest issue of The Ripon Forum featured a collection of essays discussing the threats facing the United States in an increasingly volatile global landscape.
“As we mark another anniversary of 9/11, one can’t help but compare the world we live in today with the world we left behind 14 years ago,” Forum Editor Lou Zickar said. “The terrorist attacks shattered the sense of invincibility that had built up in America following the end of the Cold War. In the years since the attacks, that sense has been further punctured by our seeming inability to shape world events. The rise of ISIS. The expansion of China. The very real danger that Russia poses to the West. With the possible exception of China, these threats were unimaginable on September 10, 2001. And yet today, they represent perhaps the three greatest challenges we face around the world.”
The Forum articles took an in-depth look at these challenges. U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European and Regional Security Cooperation and chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, writes about President Obama’s attempt to “reset” U.S. relations with Russia after he took office and Vladimir Putin’s push for power in the ensuing years.
“As Putin advances, the Obama administration continues to talk about offering Putin ‘off ramps,’ ” Johnson wrote. “To prevent even greater destabilization in Europe, the West must realize that Putin isn’t looking for ‘off ramps.’ He’s only biding his time and looking for the next ‘on ramp.’”
William Pomeranz, the deputy director of the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center, agreed with Johnson’s warnings.
“(Russia) has been put on a wartime footing,” Pomeranz explained. “Putin can’t back down from any of these policies without losing face and considerable political leverage.”
Nenad Pejic, editor-in-chief of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), said Russia is working hard on creating propaganda and PR.
“As Russia attacks the post-World War II security structure, RFE/RL’s task has less to do with outsmarting censors – although new Russian laws are constantly expanding authorities’ power to police content – than cutting through a haze of lies and absurdities designed to blur fact and fiction and overwhelm reason,” Pejic wrote.
In addition to these articles, the magazine also includes a review of the president’s strategy to destroy ISIS, the challenge facing America in the South China Sea, the U.S. defense budget and a look at how the United States is viewed abroad.