Russia, US: Political-Military Friendship
There is certainly something symbolic in the fact that Dmitry Medvedev is ending his term as the president with the meeting with Barack Obama, while Vladimir Putin is starting his new term by also meeting with the President of the United States. First of all, it is a good way to determine the agenda and set the priorities for the future relations. And then it is a good way for the country leaders to show the world as well as their own people the importance of this relationship.
First, if one ignores the unnecessary dramatization, which inevitably follows any discussions of Russian-American dialog, it is quite clear that today the relations between the two countries are still in a functional state. Moreover there seems to be no threat of any serious conflict taking place between Washington and Moscow either now or in the near-future. The national interests of the US and Russia, considering how different they might be, collide only in regard to a very small number of questions, while when it comes to the majority of international issues, the political stances of the both states are surprisingly similar. Of course, there is no denying that Moscow and Washington drastically disagree on several topics - from missile defense issues and the situation in the Middle East, to the policies concerning post-Soviet space and configuration of the global energy market. However friction between countries on certain issues is a natural part of international relations and these differences don't turn the countries involved into enemies. For example, Washington might have more political disagreements with Islamabad and Paris than with Moscow, yet they remain political partners and military allies. Therefore the tensions between Washington and Moscow shouldn't be blown out of proportion, as is a common propagandistic method used in both countries. After all it's not these differences that define the substance of today's mutual relation.
Second - modern Russia is a highly Americanized state judging by the lifestyle, mass culture, media and entertainment. Russian political system is close to that of the US as well. Even Vladimir Putin praised the American political structure on several occasions, indeed choosing to build his recent presidential campaign in a similar way to that of any American presidential candidate. All the aforementioned facts make it especially surprising to witness the explosion of anti-Americanism within Russian society in the recent months, the reason for which, in part, were, of course, the presidential elections. Hence it's easy to understand American diplomats - Russian national television declares their country the arch-nemesis of the Russia on every-day basis, while at the same time Russian leaders are urging the US to share incremental pieces of their defense strategy as the main condition on the recent missile defense agreements. If in the United States the biggest opponents of Russia are the representatives of the older political generations who vividly remember the cold war and are the dying breed in American politics, in Russia anti-American sentiments have taken over almost the entire population, including the younger generations. Obviously this only causes the American establishment to look at the possibility of compromise on the issues of defense with a high dose of skepticism. In other words, the anti-American sentiment being effectively bred in the people by Russia's leadership with a purpose of strengthening its own image within the country, ends up undermining the strategic security of Russia as a whole.
Third, the relations between Russia and the United States up to this day have remained strictly political-military, which is absurd in the day of global economy. Unlike the relations between the US and China, or Central America, for example, transformation towards collaboration on the economic basis never took place. Due to the narrow military-political agenda of the Russian-American policies, the relations between the two countries have become highly unstable. At the same time the lack of proper economic and business cooperation prevents the creation of influential groups on both sides, which would advocate for the stability within the political dialog for the sake of profitability and sustainable business collaboration. Unfortunately, until the relations between the two countries become economically profitable to the national businesses of both countries, they would continue to be reduced to a never-ending tracking of the opposing side's ICBMs. The current anti-American informational campaign that is taking place in Russia clearly demonstrates that without mutual, sustainable economic projects, any political disagreements play the main role in the relations between two countries. Hence turning these relations into a monopoly for the leaders, who advance their political career through conflict and make profits on propaganda.
Fourth, despite all of the economic and political losses that the US has incurred in the last two decades, it still remains the only superpower in the world today. None of the major issues in international politics are addressed without political involvement of the US and its global approach. Purposefully or involuntarily the US regularly becomes the main competitor of other states in any field in which Americans have an interest. In case with Russia the US is its main geopolitical, economical and cultural competitor. Undeniably today Russia is losing this race, however that doesn't immediately make the two countries enemies. The goal of Russia must be to radically improve its competitiveness on all fronts instead of explaining its failures by alleged American animosity towards all things Russian. Competition is not war, it's just a normal state of international affairs. Therefore considering your opponent in economy, culture or national interest as your enemy is either plain idiotic or is done for the purpose of manipulating the public opinion.
Of course, as mentioned before the national interests of the two countries are not exactly similar. Also it is undeniable that, despite its internal political structure being highly democratic, at times American foreign strategy can't be considered democratic at all. Hence the US must face real, viable international criticism concerning its foreign policy practices and must be presented with strong competition. While Russia is unquestionably very far from an ideal political player either, both countries are all in all - true geopolitical allies and any serious confrontation between the two is harmful to both of them.
Published in “Vedomosti” on March 26, 2012
Translated into English by Gennady Gladkov
Read in Russian: http://n-zlobin.livejournal.com/68317.html