The Kremlin Strikes Back: Russia and the West After Crimea's Annexation

by Steven Rosefielde

America and Europe responded to Russia's annexation of Crimea on March 18, 2014 by discarding their policy of East-West partnership and reverting intermittently to a policy of cold war. The West believes that this on-again/off-again second Cold War will end with Russia's capitulation because it is not a sufficiently great power, while the Kremlin's view is just the opposite; Vladimir Putin believes that if Moscow has strategic patience, Russia can recover some of the geostrategic losses that it incurred when the Soviet Union collapsed. The Kremlin Strikes Back scrutinizes the economic prospects of both sides, including factors like military industrial prowess, warfighting capabilities, and national resolve, addressing particularly hot-button issues such as increasing military spending, decreasing domestic spending, and other policies. Stephen Rosefielde aims to objectively gauge future prospects and the wisdom of employing various strategies to address Russian developments.

312 pages, Hardcover

Published December 28, 2016

Reviews

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

An incredibly sparse book; though having 275 pages before the bibliography, no chapter is truly longer than 20 pages (and even then it has near full pages of graphs). There are chapters with three pages of content and four pages of endnotes.

This also is a product of its time period, focusing specifically post Crimea and featuring predictions proven incorrect in 2023. This is not necessarily a fault on its own, and net assessments (as this claims to follow in the tradition of) typically have short shelf lives. It does, however, hurt the standing of the arguments provided.