The Intervention That Originated the Post-Cold War Order

The article retraces how the Soviet Union and the United States tried to establish a partnership in the wake of Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The international community strongly condemned the invasion, and the two superpowers chose to cooperate in finding a solution to the crisis. However, their positions differed. Guided by Gorbachev’s formula of “new political thinking” for the country and the world, the Soviet leadership was persistent in searching for a peaceful settlement. But the Bush administration, seeking to lay the grounds for U.S. dominance in a “new world order,” opted for the use of force, which became Operation Desert Storm. Moscow opposed this, but cautiously, trying to persuade Iraq to concede, while avoiding an aggravation of relations with the U.S. This policy went nowhere, and the international crisis over the Iraqi invasion catalyzed the post-Cold-War U.S.-centric world order.