Russia has become a threat to US interests

Through empirical analysis and hard evidence, I will show you several interests of the United States of which Russia has become a threat to, proving an affirmation of the resolution. The following interests are named as such by President Bush on the official White House website. •US Interest #1: Countering global proliferation of arms We see that Russia has been a huge part of the spread of ballistics materials throughout the world. According to an article from the Spectator on July eleventh of last year, Russia has built and tested new ballistic weapons that are capable of striking targets up to thirty eight hundred miles away. While Russia maintaining its military is by no means a threat itself, it's what is done with these weapons that makes Russia dangerous. According to a January 08 article from the Asia Times website, Russia is the largest supplier of arms in the world and concentrates its sale mainly to high violence areas such as the southeast of Asia, Middle-Eastern countries and Latin America. Later in that article, Dr. Ariel Cohen of the JCPA went on to speak of the recent sales between Russia and middle-eastern countries. In the late 90's, Vladimir Putin, the current president of Russia, sold a large stock of military equipment to the nations of Saudi Arabia and Syria, a prime enemy of the United States. In March of last year, the sale resumed, again with Putin as the auctioneer. A new supply of anti-tank missiles, rocket propelled grenade launchers, anti-aircraft missiles, tanks and Russian satellite codes have been on a steady distribution to these nations. •US Interest #2: Sustaining oil and gas prices According to the aforementioned article from the spectator, Russia is sitting on the largest stretch of gas reserves in the world. European nations rely on Russia for approximately one fourth of their oil, the European Union for about half and Germany and France alone rely on Russia for 80 percent of theirs. In a 2007 statement before congress, secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and undersecretary Robert Gates portrayed the effects of how Russia is using its oil and gas sales as a political weapon against small European nations that can't afford the inflated gas rates. In late 2006, Russia, without warning, inflated their prices to the nations of Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia and Georgia. When Georgia, Estonia and the capital city of Kiev, Ukraine couldn't make their payments, the gas flow was cut off for over 6 weeks. If this OPEC-like action were to be taken at any extent on the larger nations of Europe, those countries would be forced to use more of their alternative sources, the same ones that the United States already use. This high demand for a limited product would essentially make the price of gasoline soar. Sue Pleming of the International Business Times predicts that the current price of 98 dollars per barrel could sky-rocket to over 300 dollars were Europe to start relying on Canadian and Middle-eastern energy sources to a larger extent. •US Interest #3 Ballistic Defense Last year, President Bush and NATO authorized the building of a Ballistic Missile Defense Shield in eastern Europe that would consist of a Polish based missile launching site and a Czech radar site. The purpose of the BMDS would be to intercept Iranian Missiles that could possibly threaten Israel and US interests in Turkey. The Russian Army Chief Yuri Ball-ev-ski said that the base in Poland could force a retaliatory strike from Russia. It's safe to assume that the General did not mean that Russia would directly attack the US, but rather he was referring to the inferior Missile Detection system of Russia that hasn't been upgraded since 1970's. According to Eric Hundman of the Carnegie Endowment, Russia is concerned about their defense system's ability to distinguish offensive and defensive missile strikes which reacts automatically in retaliation when it senses ballistic activity. This danger led the US to suspend the building of the BDMS. •US Interest #4 UN Security Council hegemony Russia has inherited all of the Soviet seats at the UN Security Council. Those seats have given them the power of a veto that only five total nations have. The Bush administration, in September of 2006 began asking for economic sanctions to deter Iran from enriching uranium. According to Ian Bremmer of the Eurasia group, Iran has been using China and Russia as blocks to keep these economic sanctions from occurring. •US Interest #5 Security of US allies This interest mainly steams from the others that have already been mentioned. Georgia's oil block, Kosovo's fight over independence and Israel's lack of a Missile Shield in Europe produce significant threats to their physical and economic security.