Page 153 - NS-2 Textbook

The 19905 and Beyond

The end of the cold war in 1991 brought with it a greatly 3,500 warheads within a decade and for the complete
diminished threat of nuclear warfare between super- elimination of land-based multiple-warhead missiles.
powers. Still, there were many serious issues that would Many nuclear missiles on both sides have since been dis-
concern the U.S. Navy and the other U.S. armed services mantled and destroyed, and the process was still ongo-
for the remainder of the decade and into the new millen- ing into the new millennium. In late 1996 Yeltsin an-
nium. On the international scene, these issues included nounced that from that time on, no Russian-controlled
the problem of the nuclear stockpile of the former USSR; nuclear missiles would remain aimed toward any of the
continuing conflict in the Middle East, southern Europe, Western states. In early 1997 President Clinton an-
and elsewhere; proliferation of nuclear ·weapons aJnong nounced that several of the former Soviet satellite states
third world nations; the international illegal drug trade; would soon be permitted to join the North Atlantic
and world terrorism, much of it directed against U.S. Treaty Organization (NATO). The Czech Republic, Hun-
forces and interests. On the dOlnestic scene there was gary, and Poland did so in 1999. Only a few years earlier
concern over internal strife caused by the post-cold V\TaT such an idea would have seemed incredible to most in
dOvVllSizing of the services and the increasing role of the West.
women in the military; drug trafficking within the
United States; and domestic terrorism, especially follow- THE MIDDLE EAST
ing the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and New York's
World Trade Center in September 2001. The peace in the Persian Gulf area following the end of
the Iran-Iraq War in 1988 unfortunately proved to be
short-lived. With his forces no longer engaged in the war
THE FORMER SOVIET UNION
with Iran, Iraq's leader Saddam Hussein was free to at-
Immediately upon taking over the leadership of the for- tempt other more aggressive military adventures to the
mer Soviet states that comprised the new common- south.
wealth, President Boris Yeltsin found himself faced with
several very serious problems. Most important were the OPERATIONS DESERT SHIELD
issues of revitalizing the economies of Russia and the AND DESERT STORM
other former Soviet states, what to do with the armed
forces, and how to control of the formidable Soviet nu- In August 1990, suddenly and without warning, Iraqi
clear arsenal. forces lmder the command of Iraq's leader Saddam Hus-
In pursuit of economic support for his new com- sein staged a brutal invasion of neighboring Kuwait.
monwealth, Yeltsin immediately established friendly That country was captured quickly, along with thou-
working relations with Western heads of state. After as- sands of Western civilian oil-field workers and their fam-
ilies, who were then detained and used as hostages
Slrrances that he no"v controlled the nuclear "\veapons f
the United States and other Western nations started against Western reprisal. Saudi Arabia, fearful of becom-
sending luuch aid in various forms. ing the next victim of Hussein's aggression, quickly ap-
In January 1993 President Bush and Yeltsin signed pealed to the United Nations and especially to its ally, the
the second Strategic Offensive Arms Reduction and Lim- United States, for help. In an unprecedented show of
itation Treaty (START II), considered the broadest disar- unanimity against such aggression, the UN passed a
mament pact in history. Its terms called for both sides to trade embargo against Iraq, restricting movement and
reduce long-range nuclear arsenals to behveen 3,000 to sale of all goods, including oil and food products, into

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