The end of the Cold War brought relief and expectations for most Americans. During the Cold War superpower rivalry, the US foreign policy under various American presidents belonging to the Republican party favored a huge build-up of American power to counter the Soviet sphere of influence particularly in the so-called third world. In the 1960s, the Sino-Soviet rift necessitated both the superpowers to moderate the Cold War schisms. The paper highlights the US foreign policy under President Barack Obama, the most controversial president in American history. Obama's decision to discard plans for anti-ballistic missile in Eastern Europe has called for a debate. Critics argue that Obama has compromised the American security and his decision to shelve the Bush administration's missile defense shield has created `a crisis of confidence'. Obama's new policy on the use of atomic weapons `The Nuclear Posture Review' has been analyzed and critically examined.

The end of the Cold War brought relief, even joy, for most Americans. George Kennan, the former US diplomat, who had devised the `Containment' policy, was widely considered responsible for the end of superpower rivalry between the US and the Soviet Union. Paul Nitze, a one-time State Department colleague who had helped shape US foreign policy under every president from Franklin D Roosevelt to George Bush Sr., surely ranked high on the list of culprits. Nitze was a strong advocate of a huge build-up of American power.

This military preparedness antagonized the Soviets and was also responsible for the Soviet aggression in many of the third world countries. During the Bulganin-Khrushchev era, the US-Soviet relations were based on a policy of détente. The Sino-Soviet rift of the 1960s also necessitated both the superpowers to moderate the Cold War schisms.

Recently, the US President Barrack Obama announced his decision to discard plans for anti-ballistic missile shield in Eastern Europe in favor of smaller interceptors on ships and planes. This decision of Obama has created a debate on this topic. It is argued that Obama has overlooked one simple option to outlaw these missiles altogether.

In 1987, when Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev signed the intermediate-range nuclear forces treaty, the treaty required the two superpowers to destroy ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with a range of 500 to 55,000 km. It remains the only treaty to have eliminated an entire class of nuclear arms systems. Now President Obama and Dmitri Medvedev of Russia together should urge all the countries to sign the treaty. In other words, a bilateral treaty should be transformed into a multilateral one. To be sure, no treaty can prevent countries like Iran and North Korea from developing such missiles if they really want them (as they do now). It is rightly observed: "Arms control is never that potent, and bad actors, by definition, act badly."

International Relations Journal, US-Russia Relations, Obama Administration, Nuclear Arms Race, Cold War, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, European Union, Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, Trident Modernization Program, International Atomic Energy Agency, Security Architecture, Nuclear Terrorism.