The past eight years have seen a Russian resurgence built off vast energy wealth and great power aspiration. Russia now can – and does – block US goals at the United Nations, threaten and even use force against young democratic countries the US supports, and influence issues of great concern to the United States, such as in Iran, in Central Asia, on the UN Security Council. The Bush Administration failed to understand this resurgence or send clear signals about how the US would respond. Instead, for the last eight years the Bush administration has pursued a misplaced approach founded on the personal relationship between President Bush and Putin. This approach has failed. Now the US faces a steep challenge with few good options – we must attempt to work with Russia on areas of mutual interest, as well as rebuild international consensus to stand up to Russia when its actions conflict with American interests and ideals.
Report
4 December 2009
Tomorrow, December 5, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) is set to expire. START, the largest arms control agreement in history, was spearheaded by Ronald Reagan and signed by George H.W. Bush in 1991 after a decade of negotiations. Yet that has not stopped some conservatives in the Senate, like Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ), from attacking the Obama administration, saying that they do not have a “bridging agreement” ready should a follow-on treaty not be in place before the expiration date. Indeed, the Administration has declined to rush the negotiations in order to make sure that our security needs are met – while conservatives have played politics with the talks.
Report
7 July 2009
After eight years of the U.S. leaving international summits empty handed with no deliverables to speak of, the U.S.-Russian summit that wrapped up in Moscow today stands in stark contrast. President Obama, determined to reset U.S.-Russian relations and place them on a more productive and business-like track, focused on a number of core issues – arms control, Afghanistan, military cooperation, and proliferation threats. On each he achieved important deliverables. After eight years of inept diplomacy, it is refreshing that an American administration is finally able to use diplomacy as a tool to enhance American security. Yet many extreme conservatives seem to be fighting the Cold War all over again.
News
The Roots 6 July 2009
Report
1 July 2009
Next week President Obama will travel to Moscow to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. From the outset of his Administration, President Obama has sought to reset U.S.-Russian relations. Over the last eight years, U.S. policy rested on maintaining the superficial personal relationship between Bush and Putin, which failed to result in any tangible achievements and led to growing estrangement in U.S.-Russian relations. The Obama administration has sought to eliminate this superficiality and develop a more business-like relationship that is focused on core issues of mutual interest and concern that produces verifiable results.
Report
24 June 2009
US-Russian negotiations for the replacement of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) resumed this week – marking the first time in eighteen years the world’s two largest nuclear powers have negotiated a binding and verifiable agreement to reduce their arsenals. At their July 6th summit, Presidents Obama and Medvedev will review progress – and both have suggested that the new treaty will mark the foundation for cooperation in other important areas such as Iran and North Korea.
Report
6 March 2009
Today, Secretary Clinton presented Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov with – literally – a “reset button” for the US-Russia relationship. Her gesture at their first meeting capped forty days of positive signals to Moscow on the need to forge a new relationship based around “mutual respect” and the urgent need for cooperation on a range of issues including Iran, Afghanistan, nonproliferation, and European – Russian relations.
News
The Swamp - The Chicago Tribune's Washington, D.C. Bureau 6 March 2009
Press Release
Washington, D.C. 25 September 2008
Report
24 September 2008
In the upcoming debate on Friday, John McCain will cite his assertive and immediate condemnation of Russia’s attack on Georgia as evidence of his good judgment. Unfortunately for John McCain, three former Republican Secretaries of State – Henry Kissinger, James Baker, and Colin Powell – at a forum last week strongly disagreed with his rash reaction as well as his past calls for a broadly confrontational approach toward Russia.
Report
12 September 2008
In Governor Sarah Palin’s first public comments on national security, she was unable to define her own party’s national security doctrine, suggested that war with Russia might be necessary, and repeated a long-debunked canard about Iraq’s connection to the 9-11 attacks – the kind of out of touch, reckless, cavalier approach to national security that has characterized the last eight years.
Russia