WHY THE US-RUSSIA RELATIONSHIP IS SO CHALLENGING

IN MY HUMBLE OPINION

by Sharon Tennison

Dear Friends,

Many of you know that I've spent 27 years working across all parts of the US and Russia to develop constructive relations between these two countries. Being still at it, I've decided to write a 12-part email series of what's behind the relationship that makes it so challenging.

The topics will include:  Why the US-Russia Relationship is so Challenging (included below);  Putin, Dictator or What?;  the Medvedev/Putin Relationship;  US-Russia, 1000 Years of Cultural Differences;  Corruption, Forever a part of Russia?;  Is Russia ready for Democracy?;  Russia's Pressure on Eastern European Countries; Media Muzzling, Facts and/or Fiction;  Journalists' Murders - Putin or Who;  the US/Russia/Iran Conundrum; the Russia/Georgia/US Facts; the Russia/Ukraine/US Equation;  Russia's NGOs, the On Ground Reality;  Russia's Political Opposition - Fiction and Facts; US-Russia Relations, Can the Quagmire be Healed?;  Oligarchs: Democrats/ Robbers/Contributors?;  and other issues you may submit. Your suggestions or comments will be welcomed.

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SERIES #1

WHY THE US-RUSSIA RELATIONSHIP IS SO CHALLENGING?

1.  There is a lingering 'cold war' mentality in America, particularly among those 50 years and over - these are today's decision makers' in business, media, and politics.  Then there's the Post-Cold War generation, those in their 40's to 50s, some of whom had high hopes of converting Russia into America's democratic twin during the 90s -they have been sorely disappointed that Russians turned against democracy during Yeltsin's devastating presidency. Last, there is the younger generation who have no remembrance of the Cold War - and aren't concerned with Russia one way or another except for holding vague stereotypes.  It may be news to most, but our country has been at odds with Russia for some 130 years. See Rutgers' PhD historian, David Foglesong's recent book. During this lengthy history, the US-Russia relationship was occasionally acceptable (never good), but for the most part, it's been difficult to dangerous.  The worst 75 years happened during the Soviet era (even then we Americans called the Soviets 'Ruskies'). At the end of WWII, my father exclaimed at the family table, "Next we have to take out the Russians!" Later on, we believed with good cause, that the Russians-become-Soviets could (and would) rain nuclear bombs down on our cities. Our national budget strained to protect 'us' from 'them'. Is it any wonder that there remains deep-seated suspicion of Russia and all things Russian in America's psyche?  And that today we are ready to believe anything negative (whether true or not) about Russia?

2.  We Americans and Russians have opposite historic "conditioning" and communication modes, which date back several hundred years. Each society has unconsciously-held assumptions, priorities, expectations, loyalties, concepts of authority and law, timing and initiative that are vastly different from the other. Moreover, we frequently use the same words but mean different ideas when they are used. Granted, light conversation between us is warm so long as we don't get into serious working relations. But where business and nation-to-nation interactions are carried out, these differences create enormous divisiveness. A highly insightful Russian woman of 70 years gave a telling example when CCI was organizing a Russian delegation to learn innovation in Silicon Valley.  She said, "Sharon, your country was settled by self-starting individuals who left Europe to create independent lives for themselves. They championed self promotion and individualism.  We Russians come from a thousand years of being told what to do, when to do, and how to think. We haven't experienced individualism. Today we need to learn to think independently for the first time, to take personal responsibility, and to initiate.” Natalia voiced only a few of the ingrained conditionings that I've observed between our two peoples.

3. Russians and Americans have different allies and adversaries today which causes huge problems - these country-to-country relationships were forged during the Cold War. For instance, Russia has long been friends with Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Serbia, Palestine and Cuba.  These are the countries with whom America has her greatest challenges.  Russia is caught in a bind trying to stay neutral, protecting her trade, while avoiding the US' conflicts with their friends.  America stays perturbed that Russia won't (or thinks it can't) stand with us on our geopolitical issues with these countries which have been their long-term partners.

4. Last, US mainstream media adds to the misunderstanding by writing highly-charged "us - them" press on any topic related to Russia. They distort differences and present 'opinion pieces' as accurate news. These articles get stepped down to second, third and fourth tier newspapers across the US. The result?  A nation of ill-informed American citizens who don't have other media options on Russia issues. Check our analyses of current articles from the NYT, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and other key outlets.  Observe how many sentences per article are highlighted in yellow denoting inaccuracies, then footnoted to give the reader the facts behind the stories.

DOES THE US-RUSSIA RELATIONSHIP MATTER?  Yes, greatly.

*  Russia has 4,000 nuclear weapons, the US  has 5,500, with worrisome countries like Pakistan having approximately 100, North Korea a few, and Iran none at all yet. Do these relative numbers matter?  YES.  It's not in America's security interests to taunt and isolate a major nation with this much nuclear capacity.
*  No other nation could be so helpful regarding the US' critical challenges ahead:  1) the war on terrorism; 2)  reduction and control of WMDs;  3) global energy sufficiency;  4) global warming; and 5) a powerful partner with which to build a multi-polar world - in the wake of the fact that a unipolar world is no longer feasible.
* If the US and Russia could get beyond this decades-long military stand-off, the deadly weapons and space competition, and the costly arm-twisting across the world to maintain allies, there would be more than enough money available to rebuild America's economy and democracy.

Comments

[r l krattli]

Having lived and worked in Russia for the past 35 years, I share, totally, your frustration with the American media and their stereotypical view of Russia. Nevertheless, a picture of Russia through a lens which is focused only on Moscow and St. Pete, is also not a true picture. Living in "the provinces" has convinced me that the "challenges" confronting Russia are little understood by anyone.