Wooing Moscow

Campus Report ^ | June 25, 2009 | Emily Kanyi

[bs9021]

Wooing Moscow

by: Emily Kanyi, June 25, 2009

Days ahead of the President’s planned visit speculations are rife in Washington as to what the outcome of his Moscow trip will be. During a June 24, 2009 conference held at the Hudson Institute, a Washington D.C. based think tank, a panel of experts expressed little hope that Obama’s visit will succeed in mending relations between the two countries.

“Whatever optimism there might be about Obama reaching out to Russia [is] unrealistic,” said David Satter, a senior fellow at Hudson and former Moscow correspondent.

Satter called for the President to exercise caution when dealing with the Russians. “Russia does not need to be mollified, it needs to be deterred,” he said and argued that “Obama has an important psychological task ahead of him.”

“Obama has to show that he is not going to be influenced. He should understand that these are people playing a role. He should make it clear to them that he understands their play and should not take them seriously,” Satter continued.

David Kramer, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, said that “Obama is going into Russia’s reality. The sense of an enemy of a [U.S.] threat is very prevalent in the thinking of Russian leaders these days. They may not be interested in mending fences.”

Kramer suggested that Russia’s recent activities point towards a lack of seriousness in establishing friendly relations. “The military exercise that Russia is launching is strange to resurrecting relations with the U.S.” he said. “The deeper problem is that Russia is not resetting its policies but is instead pursuing policies it had since 1999,” Kramer continued....

[G Larry]

They want our money and our commitment to weaken our defenses.
We will comply.

[PzLdr]

The “Mea Culpa” Tour hits Moscow! Wonder if Il Douche’s giving Alaska back as part of the penence?