...that President Reagan faced throughout his time in office was Communism and the Cold War. Although these issues had been a problem through several presidencies, they began to escalate in the early years of Reagan’s administration. Reagan believed that President Carter provided minimal leadership to reverse communism. In 1985 President Reagan introduced the principles of the doctrine through support of anti-communist revolutions. During his State of the Union Address in 1985 he compared, “anticommunist forces with American colonists who had fought the revolutionary war, describing those latter-day patriots as ‘freedom fighters’ for democracy” (“The Reagan Doctrine”, 2014, par. 2). The doctrine was created to decrease the Soviet influence in Africa, Asia and Latin America as part of the Reagan administration’s Cold War strategy (Reagan Doctrine, 2014). It has been argued that the Reagan doctrine contributed to the fall of communism itself. One of the diplomatic efforts that occurred during Reagan’s time in office was the support of freedom fighters and/or rebels in multiple countries around the world. One specific country that was helped through the diplomatic efforts of Reagan and the principles of his doctrine was providing aid to Afghan rebels and in turn convincing Moscow to end its occupation of Afghanistan. In 1985 CIA intelligence indicated that the Soviet Union had plans to intensify the war in Afghanistan...
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...was the foreign policy in the United States, enacted by President Ronald Reagan. The doctrine was design to eradicate the communist governments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America that were authorized and corroborated by the Soviet Union. This assignment will review by what method the United States delivered open and private backing to guerrilla and resistance movements during the Regan years. Additionally, explain the political doctrine detailed events that occurred in Afghanistan when the Soviet Union invaded. As a final point, this assignment will define the benefits and drawbacks established on the Regan Doctrine. Summarize the Situation of U.S. Diplomatic of the Regan Doctrine During the course of the initial years of the Cold War, Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter all endorsed dogmas against communism in order to enclose it. Ronald Regan prohibited their détente policy in 1979, when the Soviet Union attacked Afghanistan. This alone demonstrated that policies that only contain communism were unproductive. Regan criticized in the compromise policy when it emanated to any communist government. As an alternative, Reagan proposed the Rollback policy. The creation of the Reagan Doctrine moved from containment and dispersal to eradicating all current communist governments. Likewise, the United States wanted to rise and encourage democracy and capitalism in additional of overthrew communist administrations (Conservapedia, 2012). Execution of the Regan Doctrine...
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...Containing Communism Through CIA Covert Operations Kurt Trendle PS335-01 American Foreign Policy Dr. Holzhauer 11/25/12 Kurt Trendle PS335-01 Major Film Analysis In my film analysis I chose three films that deal with previous U.S. administrations and more specifically the CIA's covert operations in supporting and aiding groups in other countries that ultimately opposed communism. The support of these groups was a way to perpetuate the containment policy. Chile: The Other 9/11 (2003), color, 60 minutes. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).:d Nicholas White; p Nicholas White; c Chris Openshaw Chile: The Other 9/11 is a documentary by the BBC which details the hour-by hour events of the military coup that led General Augusto Pinochet to power during the Cold War. On September 11th, 1973 President Salvador Allende was warned of a possible rebellion but continued on to the Presidential Palace of La Moneda in Santiago, Chile. That day President Allende sent out a broadcast that he will not step down. Allende was the first Marxist to be democratically elected. He put into place reforms that raised wages, lowered prices, and advocated for free education and healthcare. He nationalized banks and industries such as American-owned copper mines which really infuriated President Nixon (White 2003). On September 11th, the military, led by the Commander of the Army General Augusto Pinochet, surrounded the palace demanding that President Allende transfer...
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...the globe and its determination of preventing communism from expanding. “The Reagan Doctrine proclaims overt and unashamed American support for anti-Communist revolution. It is intended to establish a new, firmer--a doctrinal--foundation for such support by declaring equally worthy all armed resistance to communism, whether foreign or indigenously imposed.” (Krauthammer, 1985). A situation that required the United States diplomatic efforts during President Reagan’s time in office was the rapidly growing expansion of the Soviet Union in East Asia, Indies and the Middle East. Another situation was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan which had begun in 1979. Previously, the Carter administration had little hesitation in coming to the aid of Afghanistan after the invasion. At the time, the United States had the understanding that the Soviet Union would eventually become Middle East and would be able to gain control of the oil fields. Two events increased U.S.-Soviet tensions: the suppression of the Solidarity labor movement in Poland in December 1981, and the destruction of an off-course civilian airliner by a Soviet jet fighter in 1983. The United States also condemned the continuing Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and provided aid to the mujahidin resistance there. The Reagan Doctrine pledged aid to insurgents battling against the pro-Soviets as Reagan administration assumed that the resistance might drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan, but the insurgents defeating the Soviets were...
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...must not break faith with those who are risking their lives--on every continent from Afghanistan to Nicaragua--to defy Soviet aggression and secure rights which have been ours from birth. Support for freedom fighters is self-defense.” (Reagan, 1985, Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents 21, no. 6). This theme was expanded upon afterwards by then Secretary of State George Shultz, and picked up by journalists, most notably Charles Krauthammer who was first to give the Reagan Doctrine its name in his column in the April 1, 1985 issue of Time magazine. The Reagan Doctrine contended that the United States had a duty to oppose the spread of communist dictatorships and to support the freedom fighters that were part of insurgencies defying Soviet aggression. Its policies were rooted in the 1950s anti-communist doctrines long supported by Americans; however it differed in that “containment” was no longer its only goal. Under the Reagan doctrinal policy it was now permissible to support freedom fighters seeking to throw off governments in counties suffering under communist domination. The rhetorical outpouring of the Reagan Doctrine was much more universal than its actual enactment of policy. This was attributed largely to the impact on U.S. interests, and the theorized effects of intervention on the stability of the overall region. The Reagan Doctrine was actually exercised in Afghanistan over three presidential administrations, since aid began in the Carter Administration...
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...The purpose of the present paper is to discuss the relationship between the culture of Afghanistan and the rise of the Taliban government, as well as the relationship between the rise of the Taliban government and the United States. It is concluded that the rise of the Taliban government and its terrorists’ actions are linked with historical events that occurred within the Cold War context. While much of the world became more interested in Afghanistan after 9/11, few people know much about the country. Arguably, most people think of Afghanistan as a Muslim country with very little economic resources where life is very difficult. A minority of people even believe that the Afghan culture is one where everyone praise terrorism and are angry that the Taliban government was removed. A closer look at the Afghan culture and society can provide valuable insights for anyone interested in understanding the relationship between Afghanistan and terrorism. Afghanistan is a multicultural society and the state was only unified at the end of the 19th century. Turkic-speaking and Persian-speaking population have...
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...civilian casualties then Korea. This war involved North Korea fighting against South Korea. The communist party of North Korea was trying to take over South Korean Democrats and become one combined communist country. Russian Soviets teamed up with North Koreans to strengthen their chances of a win for communism. This in turn forced the United States to side with South Korea in fear that the communist would take over Korea in whole and push to take over the rest of the world. After the war ended in 1953, and still today, the Korean Peninsula is still divided. The United States did not stop involving in other countries wars there. The Vietnam War was a longer, more expensive battle. It officially lasted from 1954 through 1975 however, disputes dated back to the 1940s. Over 3 million people died during this war. More than half that number was Vietnamese civilians. 58 thousand Americans were also killed in the Vietnam War. A lot like the Korean War, the Vietnam War was the North battling the South. The North Vietnamese communists had the backing of the Soviet Union to spread communism. Due to the “domino theory” which stated that if one country fell to communism, many would follow, the United States once again stepped in. They backed the Southern Vietnamese. Through the war, more than 500 thousand United States Military personnel were deployed to back South Vietnam. Spite the help from the United States, Vietnam reunited and is now all communist. After spending...
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...occupy Afghanistan in December 1979 in order to support the Soviet backed People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) was largely influenced by the Brezhnev Doctrine. The anti-government uprisings that took place in 1979 were seen by the USSR as “hostile to socialism” [1]. The USSR’s reasons for invading were based mainly on the Brezhnev Doctrine (SOURCE 6), thus showing that Soviet foreign policy contributed to the occupation to a large extent. The USSR saw military intervention as necessary to keep Afghanistan in their sphere of influence and therefore supported the under-threat communist government, (SOURCE 6). The USSR saw this as a more direct way of keeping their PDPA allies in power. However, some argue...
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...this became emanate as Americans wanted revenge for the wrongful deaths of many innocent lives. It was not until May 2, 2011, that the man behind the attacks, Osama bin Laden, finally got what he deserved…death. Two years later, American troops are still fighting in Afghanistan, dying every day. The mission President Bush set out to accomplish had been completed, so it is time to bring the troops home and stop dying for the sake of other countries. The fight against terrorism will forever be an ongoing process, that much is understood. It is the goal of Presidents to come to keep the fight off American soil, something which can be checked off the list for the past 12 years. Like previously stated, war on whomever committed the 9/11 attacks was at the top of many American’s agenda, but who is to say that after 12 long years priorities have not changed. Once the death of bin Laden had been confirmed, the process of sending American troops home should have gone into effect immediately. Granted many troops have already landed safely on American soil, one troop still in Afghanistan is one too many. According to CBSNews, 2,164 troops had died in total as of January 7, 2014. ("How Many Troops Are Still in Afghanistan.") Although it may not seem like a lot, 686/2,164 troops have died in some form on combat since May 2011 after bin Laden’s death had been confirmed. (http://icasualties.org/oef/ ). Those deaths can be attributed to helping the Afghan Military regain control and power...
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...administration's (1981-1988) policy of supporting anti-Communist insurgents wherever they might be. In his 1985 State of the Union address, President Ronald Reagan called upon Congress and the American people to stand up to the Soviet Union, what he had previously called the "Evil Empire": "We must stand by all our democratic allies. And we must not break faith with those who are risking their lives--on every continent, from Afghanistan to Nicaragua--to defy Soviet-supported aggression and secure rights which have been ours from birth." (Reagan Doctrine) To the naked eye the Reagan Doctrine appears to corresponds with the United States’ 40-year mission for containment of the Soviet Union. The doctrine however is very different. As carried out by Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon and Carter, containment is a defensive theory referring to efforts to limit the further spread of Soviet power. During the initial years of the Cold War, the United States’ official policy towards communism was containment. With the creation of the Reagan Doctrine the focus shifted from keeping communism from spreading to eliminating existing communist governments. In addition to the rollback of these communist governments, the United States also wanted to encourage capitalism and democracy in those places. The Reagan Doctrine goes over to the offensive. It upholds liberation, the goal of trying to recover communist-controlled turf for freedom. In theory, its reach is universal. In practice, the places to which...
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...Afghanistan Afghanistan is located between the southern and the central part of Asia. The country holds about 32 million people. The capital in Afghanistan is Kabul. There are a lot of different languages spoken in Afghanistan. This is due to the diversity of ethnicities in Afghanistan. Dari is the official language in Afghanistan although more people speak Pashtun. The country is currently facing a war which started in 1978 during the cold war. The war originated when the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan took action against the communism in Afghanistan. This revolution is referred to as the Saur Revolution. The war in Afghanistan blossomed because of different ideologies in the Countries and large groups were dissatisfied by how the country was ruled. Afghanistan was an independent country before the war but the Soviets saw an opportunity to invade the country. They invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and assigned a new leader in the Country. This lasted about 10 years before the Soviet decided to leave the country. Afghanistan is a Democratic country now but there are a lot of rebels in the country that belong to the Taliban groups. Their goal is to diminish the democracy in Afghanistan. Life in Afghanistan has been known to be hard, especially as a woman. Afghanistan have made progress with women’s rights but the conditions are still bad. Close to 60% of all women get married within the age of 16. The amount of women dying because of childbirth is pretty common in Afghanistan...
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...Afghanistan Afghanistan is located between the southern and the central part of Asia. The country holds about 32 million people. The capital in Afghanistan is Kabul. There are a lot of different languages spoken in Afghanistan. This is due to the diversity of ethnicities in Afghanistan. Dari is the official language in Afghanistan although more people speak Pashtun. The country is currently facing a war which started in 1978 during the cold war. The war originated when the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan took action against the communism in Afghanistan. This revolution is referred to as the Saur Revolution. The war in Afghanistan blossomed because of different ideologies in the Countries and large groups were dissatisfied by how the country was ruled. Afghanistan was an independent country before the war but the Soviets saw an opportunity to invade the country. They invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and assigned a new leader in the Country. This lasted about 10 years before the Soviet decided to leave the country. Afghanistan is a Democratic country now but there are a lot of rebels in the country that belong to the Taliban groups. Their goal is to diminish the democracy in Afghanistan. Life in Afghanistan has been known to be hard, especially as a woman. Afghanistan have made progress with women’s rights but the conditions are still bad. Close to 60% of all women get married within the age of 16. The amount of women dying because of childbirth is pretty common in Afghanistan...
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...Dark Times - Black Market The Black Market and war both affect almost everyone around the world, but how do they alter each other? From cigarettes to chocolate bars and from Hitler to Gandhi the Black Market rose during World War Two, but it was the result that helped shape the Black Market in Germany. The USSR and the United States of America fought against each other, but they also had to fight against the Black Market around Europe, and that is a war that has yet to end. The United States of America and Afghanistan have been at war and threatening one another for a long time, but in Afghanistan, American soldiers find a way to settle their differences with the Afghans with the one thing all people want, money. A well-known fact is that the...
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...The Cold War was the time of rivalry and conflict between the USA and the Soviet Union. It started at the end of World War II and ended with the collapse of communism at the end of the 1980s. It was a time of political tension, in which both superpowers tried to prevent each other from gaining too much power. Even if the conflict did not result in a real war, there were many situations in which the world was very close to it. After World War II Although the United States and the Soviet Union were allies during World War II, they had different ideas about the future of the world. At the end of the war the Soviets controlled much of Eastern Europe and installed Communist governments there. The United States, on the other side, wanted to stop Communist ideas from spreading. It helped Western European countries to stay free and also gave them big sums of money to help rebuild their weak economies. The border between the Communist east and the free west was called the Iron Curtain and ran straight through the middle of Europe. The Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain blue = NATO countries red = Warsaw Pact Countries green = bloc-free Grey = neutral Military Blocs after World War II After World War II two military organizations emerged. In 1949 the United States and other western countries founded NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization), on the other side the Soviets led the Warsaw Pact, a military organization of eastern European countries. Both military blocs...
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...In what ways is foreign policy a problem of identity and alterity? Foreign policy is in every way a problem of identity and alterity because identification of the “foreign” exists at the very core of every decision making process in foreign policy. Foreign policy is defined as the strategy or approach chosen by the national government to achieve its goals in its relations with external entities (Hudson, 2008). It should not be understood as a bridge between preexisting states with secure identities. Rather, foreign policy is concerned about the establishment of the boundaries that constitute the state and the international system. There is a dichotomy here between the Self (the state) and the Other (the international system) (Campbell, 1998). In this context, the concepts of identity and alterity are inextricably tied together because defining oneself necessarily entails an “othering” process where one’s identity is built on what it is not, rather than what it is. In essence, identity is built on alterity. Furthermore, it is pertinent to note that the identity of a state is more than just something that is derived from a process of contradistinction. It is not a stable, single unitary “I”. It is a condition that has depth, is multilayered, possesses texture and comprises many dimensions. (Campbell, 1998) The identity of the state is also constantly in flux, being shaped constantly by both external and internal forces. With the process of globalization, the divide between...
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