Healing the U.S.-Russia rift
President Barack Obama's visit to Russia this week is a logical follow-up to his stop in Egypt last month.
In Cairo, Mr. Obama took steps to heal the United States' wounded relationship with the Arab and Muslim world. In Moscow, the president has begun to mend U.S.-Russian ties, which were also badly damaged during the Bush years.
In a few short days, Mr. Obama has made important progress in restoring one of America's most important bilateral relationships. He and President Dmitri Medvedev quickly reached an agreement to cut their strategic nuclear arsenals by at least one-quarter. (Mr. Obama has had a deep interest in the nuclear issue dating back to his college days, as The New York Times reported over the weekend.)
In his speech Tuesday, Mr. Obama returned to a theme that has served him well at home and abroad by stressing that the U.S. and Russia "share common interests" -- in particular deterring North Korea and Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. He struck a conciliatory tone aimed at soothing Russia's sensitivity about its sovereignty and role in the world.
[Associated Press photo]
But contrary to the claims of some of Mr. Obama's critics, there was no tone of apology or surrender in Mr. Obama's remarks. He refused to give any ground on a missile defense system in Eastern Europe or the expansion of NATO, two issues that raise suspicions of U.S. interference in what many Russians still, in a holdover from Cold War attitudes, regard as their sphere of influence.
The U.S. and Russia still have a lot of work to do, on this issue and others; let's hope future summit meetings will include more discussion of the problem of securing loose nuclear material in Russia and elsewhere in the former Soviet Union, which experts consider one of the gravest threats to international security.
Mr. Obama didn't claim any quasi-mystical divinations into Mr. Medvedev's soul this week, thank goodness. Instead, he spoke straightforwardly about U.S. positions on issues of interest to Russia, emphasizing common ground but not shying away from disagreements. Seems like a good way to win back the respect that is America's due.
Comments
Medvedyev is not the ruffled soul who should be soothed. He is a puppet who must report to Czar Putin every time he pees. It is Putin who nurtures the KGB toxins in his heart even as he runs around, getting proxies to put to death Russia's enemies anywhere they hide. No method of assassination is too sadistic, no type of murder too bizarre or gruesome for Putin. The world has already forgotten Alexander Litvinenko, former Russian spy, poisoned by radioactivity in London, journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was intrepid in her coverage of Russian atrocities in Chechnya, gunned down right at her own apartment in Moscow and scores of others dead, because the Russian thugs at the reins of government deemed it should be so. It is too early to predict what Obama's soothing words in Russia will do for America. Probably nothing because Russia is master at double speak. Never will it condemn outright its dear friend Iran, in the Security Council, because selling nuclear technology to the mullahs under the guise of peaceful nuclear development for energy is big business for the Russian state. Kim Jong il is Russia's favorite too because he does to America what Russia finds amusing--keeps the only superpower anxious, panicked and helpless. Russia's strategic nuclear arsenals are aging and useless. Russia doesn't want to spend money, it can ill afford, to refurbish them. So it makes a grand gesture of willingness to put a quarter of its arsenal out of commission when these are already out of commission. Clever, clever. True, under Bush there were no arms reduction talks and expansion of NATO, the nuclear missile shield, American intervention in Georgia and American bases in Central Asia inflamed Russia. But what's wrong with inflaming the Russian Bear when it revels in provoking the kinds of global mischief that keep the US on its toes? Besides if you soothe the Russians too much they will see it as weakness and clamp their jaws on your unsuspecting neck when your back is turned upon them.
Posted by: Anonymous | July 8, 2009 8:56 AM
Are you really that naive, or just pushing liberal propaganda. Russia is not now nor ever been an ally. Bush did many things wrong as president. Ruffling Russia’s feathers wasn’t one of them. Did Obama press Russia on nuclear sales to Iran? Who do you think is the biggest reason Iran is where they are now as far as nuclear abilities. I have to agree with the last poster. Making too many concessions to Russia only serves to make us look weak and encourage them and other nations like Iran & North Korea to continue to cause problems.
Posted by: ravensfan | July 8, 2009 12:26 PM