Russia: Not Swept Up in Obama-Mania
As Russia watched the historic inauguration of US President Barack Obama, there was plenty of commentary about the Jan. 20 event that took place in Washington - from positive and cautious optimism to pragmatic remarks about what the new American president means to Russia, its near abroad and Russia's relations with her neighbors.
Daily "Izvestia" published several opinions on the way Russian political observers saw the inauguration. Almost all of them commented on president-elect's mistake in saying the oath of office, as well as other interesting moments. Many writers quickly took the attention away from amusing moments to the grave concerns about the American economy and the fate of the global financial crisis. "The future is shrouded in darkness, and today's throngs of enthusiastic supporters screaming "Omaba!" will, once things turn for the worse, may be screaming something entirely different," writes political commentator Maksim Sokolov. He further remarked with skepticism that "emotions and effort are well-combined when it's clear how to use one's efforts for best results. But all that we now know about concrete plans of this new American President is boiled down to the slogan. "For all that is good, against all that is bad, and let no one be upset. Technically, he was elected as a wonderful, pleasant and harmless healer."
Turning to the on -going economic crisis, Sokolov writes that " ... in his defense, even more mature and experienced colleagues of the new president do not know the way out of the current economic hardship. The difference between them and Obama is that his colleagues were not elected to office on an emotional wave of hope and change and therefore are not really responsible to anyone for the results of their actions. But Obama is responsible."
Other articles also turned their attention to the Inauguration Day. An "Izvestia" article commented that "... in contrast to the overflowing streets of Washington on Jan. 20, one cannot help but think back to May 2008, when the the procession of the new Russian President Dmitry Medvedev moved towards the Kremlin on empty - almost dead - Moscow streets. But we should not compare the two events - after all, it [the Inauguration] is a typical American showboating. The harsh reality is already setting in - US Dollar, instead of rising on the wave of this presidential euphoria, instead fell against the Russian ruble - while our currency rose in the evaluation. Party is over, so to speak."
Russian political establishment continued to isolate Georgia and to limit any remaining trade with the Caucasus country. On Jan. 20, Russian President Medvedev signed a law that prohibited any deliveries of defense and dual-use materials to Georgia. Medvedev also requested the creation of official legislation that would limit or prohibit military-technical cooperation with countries that deliver Russian or Soviet military hardware to Georgia. The second initiative is clearly aimed at Ukraine, since Moscow accused it of aiding Georgian military during the August 2008 war. However, "it would not be possible to completely cut off military-technical cooperation with Ukraine, since the interdependence of military-industrial complexes of our two countries is too great, dating back to the Soviet times." In another not-so-subtle hint at Kiev, Russian daily "Vzglyad" accused Ukrainians of arming separatist Tamil Tigers movement that fought against the government of Sri Lanka. Quoting a former Tiger commander, the paper wrote that Tigers bought military hardware in Ukraine up until recently, at lowered prices. Such hardware included artillery systems, small arms and other equipment.
