The Obama administration seems to be rather proud of the success of the “reset” in Russian-American relations. And it’s true: anti-American propaganda in Russia’s mass media has indeed been toned down, as has the Kremlin’s confrontational talk about U.S. antimissile defense plans in Europe. The two countries have found common diplomatic ground on Libya and Iran, and NATO continues to use Russian airspace to supply its troops in Afghanistan. Last but not least, August’s $3.5 billion share swap between Exxon and Rosneft, Russia’s biggest state-owned oil company, is seen by the White House as a kind of expensive present to the U.S., from Russia with love.
The bad news is that the price of this rapprochement has been horribly high. Economic and political progress has been bought at the expense of America’s quietly forgetting its democratic values and human rights.
