Obama vs. Putin: How will their inevitable first meeting go?
Le Monde, France
Putin Had Best Not
Underestimate Obama
"Russia has once again sought a
rivalry that would give it the feeling of being a great power. … Mr. Putin
shouldn't be under any illusions about an American president who is considered
inexperienced in foreign affairs. In 1961, Nikita Khrushchev sought to impress
John Kennedy by telling him: 'What's mine is mine and what's yours is
negotiable.' The following year, the young president fended off the USSR in
Cuba."
By Daniel Vernet
Translated By Kate Davis
December 9, 2008
France
- Le Monde - Original Article (France)
Barack Obama is right. "I
think that it's going to be important for us to reset U.S.-Russian
relations," he said during an interview on Sunday, December 7, on NBC 
. These relations are now in a state of ruin. Even
though the channels of communication haven't been cut, specialists are
remarking that the areas subject to negotiation are less broad and contact less
intense between the governments than they were during the Cold War.
After the dissolution of the
Soviet Union, everything seemed to be going well. With his pranks that weren't
always in the best taste, Boris Yeltsin had a gift for being able to make Bill
Clinton laugh. More seriously, the United States and the new Russia succeeded
in creating bonds and putting in place common institutions - such as the
commission co-chaired by Vice President Al Gore and Prime Minister Viktor
Chernomyrdin 
- despite disagreements that would culminate
with the war in Kosovo but that, in spite of everything, led to the creation of
the NATO-Russia Council .
Between George W. Bush and
Vladimir Putin, too, the initial contacts were good. During their first meeting
in Ljubljana, in the spring of 2001 in Slovenia, the American president
marveled that by looking deeply into Putin's eyes, he saw "the soul"
of his Russian colleague. The attacks of September 11 of that year brought the
two men together in a common fight against international terrorism.
For the degradation that
followed, both parties share responsibility. Based on changes in the world
after the fall of the Berlin Wall, American neoconservatives have challenged
agreements dating from the Cold War that they had always disagreed with,
notably the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty .
The installation of elements of an anti-missile defense shield in Poland and
the Czech Republic is one example of this policy. The expansion of NATO to
former Soviet republics is another bone of contention.
Russia has used this as a
pretext to try and recreate a sphere of influence around it, a policy initiated
by the "color revolutions" in Georgia and Ukraine. After being a
partner to the West in the early days of post-communism, Russia has once again
sought a rivalry that would give it the feeling of being a great power.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
Neither the euphoria of the
1990s nor a return to the Cold War: between these two extremes, Mr. Obama will
determine his Russia policy. For the moment, he has stuck to generalities. He
wants to cooperate with the Kremlin "when possible" (against nuclear
proliferation and terrorism) and warn it against intimidating its neighbors.
That's good but it isn't conclusive. Can he make gestures to show his
willingness to resume a dialogue? In Democratic circles, some suggest that it
would be good to slow the expansion of NATO, if only to avoid finding
themselves in conflict for adhering to solidarity with people like the Georgian
president [Mikheil Saakashvili ]. The same
people add that the anti-missile defense system in Europe could be
"revisited."
Mr. Putin shouldn't, however,
be under any illusions about an American president who is considered
inexperienced in foreign affairs. In 1961, Nikita Khrushchev sought to impress
John Kennedy by telling him during their first meeting in Vienna in 1961:
"What's mine is mine and what's yours is negotiable." The following
year, the young president fended of the USSR in Cuba [The Cuban Missile Crisis].
Email: chroniqueinter@lemonde.fr
CLICK HERE FOR FRENCH
VERSION
[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
December 14, 12:55pm]
