“The Soviet structure of power is committed to the perfection of the dictatorship and to maintaining the concept that Russia is in a state of siege, with an enemy that lies just beyond the walls. This mentality has profound implications for Russia’s international conduct. Moscow assumes that the aims of the capitalist world are antagonistic to the Soviet regime. However, the Kremlin is under no compulsion to accomplish its goal of spreading its influence in a hurry. If it finds unassailable barriers in its path, it accepts them and accommodates itself to them. There is no trace of any feeling in Soviet psychology that that goal must be reached at any given time.In these circumstances it is clear that the main element of any United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of patient and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies. Soviet economic development, while it can list certain formidable achievements, has been precariously spotty and uneven. It is difficult to see how the deficiencies of the Soviet economic system can be corrected by a tired and dispirited population working largely under the shadow of fear and compulsion. And as long as they are not overcome, Russia will remain an economically vulnerable and impotent nation, capable of exporting its ideological enthusiasm but unable to export real evidence of material power and prosperity. Indeed, it is the strong belief of this writer that Soviet power bears within it the seeds of its own decay, and that the sprouting of these seeds is well advanced.”George F. Kennan, United States diplomat to the Soviet Union from 1944 to 1946, article submitted anonymously to an academic journal devoted to the conduct of foreign policy, published in Washington, D.C., 1947QuestionThe recommendation provided in the second paragraph is best explained in the context of which of the following historical situations in the aftermath of the Second World War?ResponsesThe emergence of fascist states engaged in territorial expansion in Asia and AfricaThe emergence of fascist states engaged in territorial expansion in Asia and AfricaThe implementation of genocidal policies by totalitarian statesThe implementation of genocidal policies by totalitarian statesThe creation of secret competing alliance systems by European powersThe creation of secret competing alliance systems by European powersThe attempts by Soviet officials to establish ideological ties with newly independent states