The crumbling of the so called Communist Empire in Eastern Europe in 1989 and 1990 has led many political analysts to proclaim that the transformation of international political environment from a bipolar character, in which the United States and the Soviet Union were the principal players, will result in either (1) a multipolar character, in which either (a) the United States will be but one of several major players (Hyland, 1990, p. 5), or (b) the United States, Japan, and the reunited Germany will be the major players, with a considerably less significant role for Russia (Tarnoff, 1990, pp. 67-80), or (2) a unipolar character in which the United States is the dominant world power (Sanders, 1991, pp. 27-35). According to many political analysts, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will become superfluous regardless of which of the forecasted scenarios evolves (Morrison, 1994, pp. 11-15).
There is little doubt that the international political order is changing, and that in the spring of 1995 it is significantly different from what it was in the fall of 1988. It is somewhat too soon to predict with any degree of accuracy who the major players in the developing multipolar or unipolar environment will and will not be, and which, if any, of these players will be first among equals. In spite of the difficulties being experienced by the national government in Russia, a great leap of faith is required to assume that a major international political role will be denied to a country with an armed force as formidable as is that of Russia (Wettig, 1993, pp. 953-972).
Given the uncertainties of the contemporary global political environment, the relationship between the two most powerful military forces on earth the United States and Russia will likely determine the political shape of the world for years to come (Ruttan, 1992, pp. 51-52). Within this context, the question that must be answered concerns the degree of collabo...