On the one hand, there is some truth to this argument. During Dmitri Medvedev’s most recent trip to the US, President Obama did not even mention Russia’s sham trial of imprisoned oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Nor did he apply any overt pressure in regard to the Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which Russia occupied in August 2008. This omission suggests that the administration is willing to sacrifice some its principles in the pursuit of rapprochement.
Even so, the less in-your-face policy has attracted some supporters abroad. Among the most unlikely was Georgia’s president, Mikhail Saakashvili, who said that “if [the reset button] leads to a more modern, more open Russia, that’s only good for all of us around it.” Coming from such a vocal critic of the Kremlin, these comments should throw cold water on those who suggest that Mr. Obama has thrown America’s friends under a bus.
How then should the US proceed? First, it should continue promoting democracy and the rule of law behind closed doors. Second, it needs to reaffirm its support for allies in the region, as Secretary of State Clinton recently did in the Caucasus. Most importantly, the administration must use all of the goodwill and leverage it claims to have accrued to convince the Kremlin to deal with Iran’s nuclear program. Whether the administration likes it or not, the reset button’s success will ultimately be measured by its effect in Tehran and Tskhinvali, not nice words from Moscow.
Comments
I think there is a very strong argument to be made that this is just another go-around the hot-cold cycle. Anyone remember how good Bush and Putin got along and how helpful the Russians were back in the early aughts?
Fair point. The big issue in the 2001 and 2002 was terrorism. Putin, after all, was the first leader to call Bush following 9/11. He even wrote an editorial in the NYT, arguing that the two countries faced a common menace of Islamic terrorism in Chechnya and Afghanistan. But as events would prove, their alliance was more convenient than anything else.
President Obama's so-called reset button may prove similarly short lived; it remains to be seen. All I really wanted to say is that the US should direct all of its efforts towards Iran and worry less about nuclear disarmament more generally.
