Romney's America: 'Russia-U.S.
Ties Won't Sour, they'll Come to a Standstill' (Izvestia,
Russia)
"If the
Republican wins, then, based on his rhetoric, U.S.-Russia relations won't only sour,
they will come to a standstill. They will be nonexistent for a long time to
come. Every claim Romney has made about Russia has been clearly laid out: it is
a country standingin the way of America
in settling the Iran issue; it is a country toward which America must show
resolve and toughness. This is repeated time after time, because Romney in fact
has no position on Russia, and has no idea what to do with it."
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on the hustings: People around the world are coming to grips with the fact that he could be the next president. In Russia's case, as far as we can gather from its media, such an eventuality would not be welcome.
On the eve of the last debate, the U.S. presidential race remained
somewhat suspenseful: according to general opinion, Obama lost the first debate
and won the second, although not overwhelmingly so. That is why the outcome of
the third debate was so very important.
According to the polls, Obama won this round, although not
with flying colors. But in any case, the overall score is in his favor. As a
whole, Obama's confidence in foreign policy is evident, and most Americans trust
him. But at the same time, Romney didn't demonstrate catastrophic incompetence,
which would have repelled the American public. His debating made him sound
qualified.
However, the majority of American commentators were
disappointed by the framework and subject matter of the debate. In their view,
a country that claims the role of global leader, and in fact, is, cannot
conduct a presidential foreign policy debate with such a restrictive format.
But nevertheless it does: the range of topics covered was very narrow. Most of
the debate was focused on the Middle East. China was mentioned, but only in a limited
way: they spoke of the jobs that China “takes” from the U.S., so that even that
issue was more about domestic politics than foreign affairs. Russia was
mentioned in passing, but as far as debate, in fact, it wasn't really there,
and neither was the rest of the world.
The initial tendency, when most were inclined to believe
that Obama would win, hasn't gone away, but the race remains intriguing. It's
too early to write Romney off.
Posted
by Worldmeets.US
If the Republican wins, based on his rhetoric,
U.S.-Russia relations won't only sour, they will come to a standstill. They
will be nonexistent for a long time to come. Every claim Romney has made about
Russia has been clearly laid out: it is a country standingin the way of America in settling the Iran
issue; it is a country toward which America must show resolve and toughness.
This is repeated time after time, because Romney in fact has no position on
Russia, and has no idea what to do with it.
I think that in the event of a Romney victory, there would
be a pause in relations. Then it will turn out that there are more pressing
issues, and more than likely, the Republican administration will realize that
Russia is still necessary - just as Bush and Obama did in their time. But when this
will happen, it is too early to guess.
*Fyodor Lukyanov is Chief Editor for Russia in Global Affairs
