The tone of U.S.-Russian diplomacy was much improved, and Obama is returning to Washington with several concrete agreements, but the summit did not yield a significant breakthrough on any major issue. In fact, like much of Obama’s foreign policy to date, the Moscow summit was as much a triumph of style and attitude as an achievement in terms of substance. Russian-American relations may now be headed in the right direction, but both sides have a long way to go.
Like much of Obama’s foreign policy to date, the Moscow summit was as much a triumph of style and attitude as an achievement in terms of substance.
Obama arrived in Moscow after some 15 years of mutual disappointment. Initial hopes for warm and close relations had evaporated after Russia’s economy collapsed in the 1990s and Washington could not resist taking advantage of Moscow’s all-too-apparent weakness. Russian leaders were alarmed when the Clinton administration expanded NATO eastward despite repeated objections, and their anger increased when NATO attacked Moscow’s Serbian ally during the 1999 Kosovo war.
Moscow was equally incensed when the Bush administration abrogated the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2001, invaded Iraq in 2003, pressed forward with plans for missile defenses in Eastern Europe, cultivated close ties with several post-Soviet republics in Central Asia, and pushed NATO to accelerate membership for Georgia and Ukraine in 2008.
For their part, U.S. officials were disappointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s increasingly authoritarian rule, his use of Russia’s oil and gas exports as an instrument of leverage, his none-too-transparent effort to re-establish a sphere of influence around Russia’s borders, and Moscow’s reluctance to help stop the Iranian nuclear programs.
Relations reached a post-Cold War nadir a year ago, when Georgia’s foolhardy assault on South Ossetia triggered a major Russian invasion and cast Russian and American differences in sharp relief.
Given this discouraging situation, Obama took office hoping, as Vice President Joe Biden put it, to “push the reset button.”
That phrase suggested an awareness that the two states were not divided by deep ideological differences or insurmountable conflicts of interest, and that Russian-American animosity was preventing both sides from cooperating on those issues where their interests converged.
Accordingly, Obama’s early statements indicated a greater sensitivity toward Russia’s legitimate interests than the Bush administration had shown, as well as a recognition that the United States needed to establish clearer priorities in its dealings with Moscow. In particular, Obama and his foreign-policy team understood that the United States could not continue to challenge Russia’s sensitivities on missile defense, NATO membership for Ukraine, etc., and still expect to get Russian help vis-à-vis Iran, North Korea, or Afghanistan.
The just-completed summit showed that this shift in philosophy could yield tangible if limited benefits. Obama avoided the overly personal approach President Clinton adopted toward the late Boris Yeltsin and that Bush had shown toward Putin. Obama did not claim to see into anybody’s soul, and he didn’t suggest that Russian-American cooperation rested on some sort of personal bond between the top leaders. Instead, the atmosphere at the summit was, as President Dmitry Medvedev put it, a “very useful and very open business-like conversation.”
Second, Obama did not shy away from some of the fundamental issues that still divide the two states. While in Moscow, he made several pointed remarks about the importance of genuine democracy and the rule of law, emphasizing that “the arc of history shows us that governments which serve their own people survive and thrive; governments which serve only their own power do not.”
He also told the post-summit press conference that he believed Russia should respect Georgia’s territorial integrity. By speaking forthrightly on these delicate issues, Obama made it clear that he would pursue U.S. interests without abandoning American values.
View as Single Page 12 Back to Top July 7, 2009 | 11:04pm EmailsEmails | | print Print International, Politics, Russia, Barack Obama, Russian-american Relations, Manas Air Base, Russia-georgia Conflict, Georgia War, Nato Membership, Kosovo War, Abm Treaty, Start Treaty, U.s.-russia Diplomacy, Moscow Summit, Obama Foreign Policy, Boris Yeltsin, Dmitry Medvedev, Nato, Vladimir Putin, George W. Bush, Foreign Policy, Bill Clinton (–) Show Replies Collapse Replies Sort Up Sort Down sort by date: sadie101
Kennedy went to Russia and the Russians chuckeled; Obama goes and our media Swoons like a groupie at a rock concert. Putin and Medvedev will humor Obama and the Times, show up and smile nice like and toss a bone our way, but watch for the retracting string on that bone! It is refreshing to see an honest accounting of the trip on the Daily Beast, but meanwhile the Times....anyone have any smelling salts.
Ahh yes. I had forgotten how great our Russia Policy was under W. Bush.... What's that?.. you mean it was a mess? Inconceivable! Things only got messed up in the past six months once Obama was elected (same as the economy, the environment and everything else according to sad101 (typo, but keeping it)). I'm all for keeping Obama honest and holding him to campaign promises, However, wouldn't it be more prudent to wait 18 more months until we decide that his Russia policy has failed? http://www.nsnetwork.org/node/967
It hasn't been reported much in the English language press, and I guess one can understand why. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin must have had a hard time not laughing out loud when U.S. President Barack Obama expressed the view that they should try and clamp down on corruption in Russia. The French press had headlines similar to, "Obama puts his foot in the plate". :-) The question is, "Does Obama know that Putin and Medvedev get a kickback from a every major business in Russia"? If "yes" then why did he make the comment, and if "no", then we have to really worry about him, and those surrounding him. Michael
I for one think it's remarkable that the USA made ANY progress with Russia, after the way we treated them. We gotta start somewhere.
As you might expect from a Harvard Liberal, Walt bends over backward to praise Obama, who has made no changes whatsoever from the Clinton/Bush Russian policies. And perhaps Obama is right to do so, but to portray this as some sort of wise departure is just another example of the Liberal eagerness to fawn over The One.
What a wasted article. I can read other MSM hacks if I want the usual MSM fawning & adoration over their chosen one. I want REALnews - not this garbage. I'm outta here.
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John P. Avlon is the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics. He writes a weekly column for The Daily Beast and is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Previously, he served as Chief Speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.
Tracy Quan's latest novel is Diary of a Jetsetting Call Girl, set in Provence and praised in The Nation as a "deft account of occupational rigors and anxieties before the crash." Tracy's debut, Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl, and the sequel, Diary of a Married Call Girl, are international bestsellers. A regular columnist for The Guardian, she has written for many publications including Cosmopolitan, The Financial Times, and The New York Times.
Barbie Latza Nadeau has reported from Italy for Newsweek Magazine since 1997. She also writes for CNN Traveller, Budget Travel Magazine and Frommer's.
Douglas Rushkoff, a professor of media studies at The New School University and producer and correspondent for the PBS Frontline Digital Nation project, is the author of numerous books, including Cyberia, ScreenAgers, Media Virus, and, most recently, Life Inc., released this month by Random House.
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by Stephen Walt
Stephen M. Walt is the Robert and Renee Belfer professor of international affairs at Harvard University. He blogs at http://walt.foreignpolicy.com.
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