‘Resetting’ relations with Russia
Different interests, different goals, and dealing with two different leaders may hamper President Obama's ability to reset relations with Russia.
This week’s U.S.-Russia summit in Moscow has been billed as a chance to “reset” relations between the two countries, said Vladimir Ryzhkov in The Moscow Times. Stalemate is the more likely outcome. Our current Russian leaders are hung up on one issue: “re-establishing greater influence over the former Soviet republics.” They want President Obama to agree to a tacit divvying up of the world into “spheres of influence”—the very Cold War–era thinking that he has denounced. Meanwhile, Washington’s interests lie elsewhere—in stabilizing Iraq and Afghanistan, coping with Iran and North Korea, and resolving the perennial Arab-Israeli conflict. Moscow has little to offer in any of these areas. “The hopes of resetting U.S.-Russian relations will be shattered by the two sides’ fundamental disagreements.”
The one big achievement of the summit was essentially “just PR,” said Dmitri Sidorov in Moscow’s Yezhedevny Zhurnal. That’s the agreement to cut nuclear weapons and conclude a new arms-control treaty. Neither side had anything to lose except inflated defense budgets, so it was easy to agree to reduce nuclear arsenals. That’s also why President Dmitri Medvedev conducted that portion of the discussion. The real talks, about oil and gas sales and pipelines, and the use of energy as a weapon against recalcitrant East European states, took place with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, still the most powerful Russian leader. And from what we can tell so far, not much was agreed on there.
Putin, in fact, is the main obstacle to any reset, said Yevgeny Kiselyov in The Moscow Times. During his two terms as president, from 2000 to 2008, U.S.-Russian relations “reached their lowest point since the Cold War,” largely due to his machinations. As prime minister, Putin still controls most Russian policy. Recall that last November, then-President Bush made an agreement with Medvedev that the U.S. and Russia would not erect protectionist trade barriers. “Literally a few days later, Putin announced the introduction of prohibitively high customs duties” on certain cars. So any agreement that Obama thinks he reached with Medvedev could easily be undercut by Putin—an example of the good cop, bad cop routine that the Kremlin has mastered.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published