It is obvious that U.S.-Russian relations and East- West relations more broadly have recently deteriorated. Yet analyses of why this is the case have often been confined to American policy. The author of this monograph, Dr. Stephen Blank, seeks to analyze some of the key strategic issues at stake in this relationship and trace that decline to Russian factors which have been overlooked or neglected. At the same time, he has devoted considerable time to recording some of the shortcomings of U.S. policy and recommending a way out of the growing impasse confronting both sides. This analysis, originally presented at the annual Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) strategy conference of 2007, was part of a panel that engaged the strategic challenges confronting the United States from Russia. As such, it was part of the conference's larger theme of analyzing regional strategic challenges to U.S. interests and policy across the globe.