There's a vigorous debate going on about whether President Obama badly misjudged his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, which then encouraged Moscow's newfound expansionist aggression. Critics have in particular seized on the awkward "reset" moment as proof of the administration's allegedly misguided attempts to rein in Russia by drawing it closer. But Peter Baker, in a refreshing analysis over at The New York Times, writes that Obama's predecessors also struggled to understand and work with the former KGB agent, and that all three men mistakenly "assumed they could manage a man who refuses to be managed."
Eric S. Edelman, who was undersecretary of defense under Mr. Bush, said American leaders overestimated their ability to assuage Mr. Putin's anger about the West. "There has been a persistent tendency on the part of U.S. presidents and Western leaders more broadly to see the sense of grievance as a background condition that could be modulated by consideration of Russian national interests," he said. "In fact, those efforts have been invariably taken as weakness." [New York Times]
There are a number of other revealing passages from Baker's conversations with former White House advisers and foreign policy experts. And there are a few other interesting behind-the-scenes tidbits, such as:
* President George W. Bush privately called Putin "one cold dude," and complained that dealing with him was like "arguing with an eighth grader with his facts wrong."
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.
* Dick Cheney's inner monologue when he thought of Putin went, "KGB, KGB, KGB."
* Hillary Clinton liked to mimic Putin's macho "man's-man, legs-spread-wide posture."
Give the whole thing a read here.
-
Savages: a tragi-comedy set in a 'quirky handcrafted world'The Week Recommends This new animated film by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Claude Barras is undeniably political, but it has a hopeful message
-
Why 'faceless bots' are interviewing job huntersIn The Spotlight Artificial intelligence is taking over a crucial part of recruitment
-
Who will win the battle for the soul of the Green Party?An ideological divide is taking root among the environmentalists
-
ICE scraps age limits amid hiring pushSpeed Read Anyone 18 or older can now apply to be an ICE agent
-
Trump's global tariffs take effect, with new additionsSpeed Read Tariffs on more than 90 US trading partners went into effect, escalating the global trade war
-
House committee subpoenas Epstein filesSpeed Read The House Oversight Committee has issued a subpoena to the Justice Department for its Jeffrey Epstein files with an Aug. 19 deadline
-
India rejects Trump threat over Russian oilSpeed Read The president said he would raise tariffs on India for buying and selling Russian oil
-
NY's Hochul vows response to Texas gerrymanderSpeed Read Gov. Kathy Hochul has promised to play ball with redistricting that favors the Democrats
-
Texas Democrats exit state to block redistricting voteSpeed Read More than 51 legislators fled the state in protest of the GOP's plan to redraw congressional districts
-
Trump criticized for firing BLS chief after jobs reportSpeed Read Bureau of Labor Statistics chief Erika McEntarfer oversaw a July jobs report that the president claims was rigged
-
Trump revives K-12 Presidential Fitness TestSpeed Read The Obama administration phased the test out in 2012, replacing it with a program focused on overall health rather than standardized benchmarks
