The Ukraine crisis and the resumption of U. S-Russian rivalry : Obama’s policies between threat perception and new containment

Abstract EN

The end of the Cold War triggered a panoply of reflections on the nature of the world, especially on the European security architecture.

In early 2014, cataclysmic events inthe Ukraine ushered in a period of great power rivalry between Washington andMoscow reminiscent of 19th Century European power-grab.

By deploying an offensiverealist approach, this article ponders the turbulent events that erupted in Kiev and theRussian intervention in the country during the Obama presidency.

By using qualitativecontent analysis, this paper seeks to place the Ukrainian issue into an internationaldimension of post-Cold War power dynamics between Washington and Russia.

Indeed, the inexorable eastward expansion of NATO, the U.

S.

missile defense installations ineastern-Europe, the unsuccessful policy of rapprochement and the Russian denial ofUkraine's occidental orientation are key factors in further fomenting the ongoingimpasse