The Geopolitical War Tension between USA and the Soviet Union (Essay Sample)

The Geopolitical War Tension between USA and the Soviet Union
President Carter’s Administration and the Soviet Union
When President Carter came into office in 1977, his biggest challenge was the geopolitical war tension between USA and the Soviet Union. He felt responsible for maintaining the delicate global peace and power balance during the Cold War and prevent the breakout of a nuclear war. To do so, he redefined the USA foreign policy to protection of human rights and democratic values within and without its borders and nuclear non-proliferation (Moens 21). In his foreign policy, he recognized the power that USA yielded over other nations and thought the country should take a ‘big brother’ role to guide other nations towards democracy and liberty. This paper explores the Carter administration by discussing major events and their significance.
While President Carter was actively effecting his foreign policy in South American countries by criticizing them for human rights violation, the Soviet Union was at the forefront of violating dissidents’ rights. Many people openly criticized the Soviet Union’s treatment of dissidents, including the physicist Andrei Sakharov. From 1960, he had been a major critic of the USSR for their violation of human rights and eventually denounced the state in 1978 (Martin 138). In doing so, Sakharov became a target for the Soviet Union and the US State Department came to his defense saying no amount of intimidation would silence the legitimate criticism of human rights violation by the USSR.