Presidents Obama and Putin at the Kremlin: It looks like the
Russians
are coming to terms with the likelihood of another Obama term.
Obama: 'Not a
God, But a Partner' (Izvestia, Russia)
"Putin
finally realizes that the American political class will offer us no one better than
liberal Obama. ... it is better to work with someone who, after his victory, is
willing (perhaps genuinely) to come and meet on the issue of missile defense,
than a man who (perhaps in all seriousness) considers Russia geopolitical enemy
number one. ... On the U.S. political scene today there aren’t any other,
pardon the pun, "real realists" to be expected."
My friend and colleague Dmitry Drobnitskii,
in his latest column in Izvestia,
very reasonably noted a measure of change in the foreign policy behavior and
rhetoric of our country's leading figures. It was a somewhat half-hearted
attempt to play along with American's current president, a public expression of
sympathy for his amicable mood with regard to Russia, as well as an
understanding of his liberal-environmental agenda which Drobnitskii
called a kind of awakening of "foreign policy realism."
Vladimir Putin, in Drobnitskii’s
opinion, has stopped following some of his supporters who hope for a conservative
Republican to reappear at the White House. Someone who, like Reagan or Bush Jr.,
believes in the sincere religiosity of Russians, and seeing a cross around a
Russian neck, will accept him as one of their own. He finally realizes that the
American political class will offer us no one better than liberal Obama. And he
has rightly concluded that we should support Obama on issues that we can
support him on, like for example, protecting the environment.
Of course, if Romney wins, we'll have to deal with
Romney. But it is better to work with someone who, after his victory, is
willing (perhaps genuinely) to come and meet on the issue of missile defense,
than a man who (perhaps in all seriousness) considers Russia geopolitical enemy
number one.
I would add, it is better to deal with a politician trying
his best to deter Israel from carrying out a strike on Iran than with an
unequivocal supporter of Israel, who in one way or another, will have to
answer for his words.
To paraphrase the late astronaut Neil Armstrong, we can
say that this understanding is "one small step for a leader, and one giant
leap" for all Russian kind. Four years ago, when the same Obama went up
against [Georgia President] Saakashvili’s biggest fan, Senator John McCain, most
people in Russia were for McCain. There were four reasons.
Some had hoped that McCain would reach the White House
and immediately begin a tussle with the Russian authorities, flood the
opposition with dollars, demand that Putin and Medvedev surrender themselves in
front of the mob hastily-assembled by those dollars, and failing to fulfill the
mob’s demands, our elite would be punished with terrible blacklists.
Others, among them sincere patriots of the Fatherland,
trusted that such loud threats and openly-aggressive intentions on the part of
the United States, would bring our ruling class to abandon their temporary lull,
gather, rally, and finally institute a genuine modernization of the Russian
Armed Forces and the overall economy.
Still others continued to believe in the old tale of the
ferocious-looking but secretly-kind Republicans, and the soft, but sly and
treacherous Democrats.
But the those with the greatest impact were a fourth group.
These people stylistically enjoy rudeness, ferocity, and brutality. And,
according to the twisted logic of some, all alpha dogs are simply obliged to
love one another, and sooner or later, the brutal macho man in the White House would
have to squeeze into the embrace of the brutal macho man in the Kremlin. In
general, they thought, the lions have to sleep with the lions, and the bunnies
with the bunnies.
Convincing our potential lions was impossible. They
stubbornly refused to be in the company of bunnies. This could spoil their
image and reduce their prestige.
Posted
by Worldmeets.US
And now, it seems, in the minds of our elite - the ruling
party and opposition - there has been a gratifying break. We have to admit, our
opposition is a little smarter and a little wiser. There are many ways to treat [Putin
opponent and businessman] Alexey Navalny, but we cannot give him his due. Unlike
Kasparov, he never wrote a
column in The Wall Street Journal
and didn’t berate Russia for not rushing into a war with Iran.
Our sincere patriots are also smarter, since they have realized
that Russia today is hardly ready for a frontal confrontation with the West.
"If Tomorrow Brings War, then Tomorrow We March" [Soviet war song of 1938],
then tomorrow, wouldn’t half our command staff flee? Only now has the government
finally begun to realize that officials should not be permitted to open up bank
accounts abroad; only now has it begun to think about how to avoid "an
Italian desertion" by servicemen who want to live out their days in a
small villa on the Mediterranean.
Finally, our experts, who love to remember the cases of
Nixon and Reagan, have also become aware that the era of such legendary
presidents is long gone. Before us are completely different kinds of Republicans
and far different types of Democrats. On the political scene today there aren’t
any other, pardon the pun, "real realists" to be expected - except
for Obama.
It appears as though the Russian government has stepped
away from policies carried out in the spirit of mutual public relations for
alpha-dogs and beta-bunnies. This, of course, won't please all those who in
fact are guided by national interests. Note that in the eyes of some overweening neocons, in their anti-Russian and anti-Iranian zeal,
Obama is only a bunny. Yet he probably killed more leaders of al-Qaeda
than Bush the younger. There is no particular reason to think him a defeatist
when he is demonstrably not. And actually, in the case of Russia during his
first term, he didn’t engage in any particular bullying of Russia.
Of course, Obama didn't dare touch the big banks; and he
was afraid to bring order to the Federal Reserve. Meanwhile, everyone who had
hoped for a return of state guidance in the economy and new large-scale
investment programs were waiting for Obama’s New Deal. Instead, massive state
aid went to America's defaulting banks, there was a recognition of same-sex
marriage and a partial reform of health care. He never became a superpower-Nobel
laureate, exemplary defender of international law, or even the
law itself. For Russia, and, as they used to say in the old days, all of progressive
humanity, there is no reason to look at the 44th occupant of the White House
with particular adoration.
But probably, as Dmitry Drobnitskii
correctly noted, we shouldn’t look for leaders across the sea to be gods, but
just reliable partners. And if Obama does not appear to us as a god, but a
partner, he is certainly preferable.
