Military District of San Bernardino County: U.S. Elections: Outlook for Relations with Russia

2008-11-07

U.S. Elections: Outlook for Relations with Russia

Barack Obama became the new U.S. President-Elect. America once again proved the world that it is a country of unlimited opportunities. But these are emotions, which matter only at the campaign stage. Soon Barack Obama will get down to real work, which is sure to be challenging for him.

At the end of the day, he is lucky. Obama will ascend to the White House when the credit crunch’s burden is behind and a hope for the better appears. His party will have the majority both in the Senate and Congress, which will facilitate passing bills. However, it is unclear what steps the Bush administration will make within the two months ahead.

As far as Russia is concerned, the new U.S. President is unlikely to bid farewell to the cold war shadow, which has been characteristic of the two countries’ relations in recent years.

Obviously, there is agenda Washington and Moscow will need to work on: the world credit crisis, the Iranian nuclear file, interaction in the post-Soviet space, nuclear non-disarmament talks. But this agenda appears far less important to Obama than inner economic problems, Iraq and Afghanistan – America expects that he should primarily resolve these matters.

Also, Obama is not that experienced in addressing foreign policy challenges, which means that Vice President Joe Biden will assume much responsibility, but the latter is known to have no affection toward Russia.

One should keep in mind that Democrats have traditionally paid much attention to observing human rights in Russia. Like Republicans, they advocated former Soviet republics’ developing independently from Moscow. They are not in favor of Russia’s incumbent government’s line either. So, Moscow should get ready for a tough dialogue. The U.S.-Russian relations have a chance to improve somewhat because of the parties’ becoming more pragmatic, rather than finding a common ground.

The recent elections have one more positive point: Obama, like Medvedev, belongs to a new generation of politicians, whose line can go beyond traditions. In these terms, it is possible that the two heads of state should start a new dialogue.

Andrey Fedorov, Director of Foreign Policy Programs with the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister in 1990-1991

All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 06, 2008