Russia: Other Points of View

RUSSIA'S SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS

IN MY HUMBLE OPINION

by Sharon Tennison

A bear of a man covered with a leather coat and French hat walked into my St.Petersburg apartment yesterday. This 40-year-old was intent on serious discussion. The request for the meeting had come from one of Russia's largest companies in timber and pulp.  They wanted to discuss how to encourage charitable services and volunteerism among their workers in far away cities and towns - the "one company" cities, which one occasionally hears about.

I had asked for an agenda and had sent my questions for discussion.  It was a pleasant surprise that I didn't need to pull information from Denis. He began talking specifically to the points I had requested in my agenda and flooded me with facts regarding their business, their work in far out Russian regions, their 50/50 joint venture with a large American company (2007), the charity the company did during the Soviet years, and their relatively new Fund (2005), which was created solely to promote charity work among their workers.

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?

EU'S GEORGIAN WAR REPORT "DELAYED"

IN MY HUMBLE OPINION

by Sharon Tennison

Today, the long-awaited publication of European Union's independent report on the Georgia/S. Ossetia/Russia war is being delayed "for a more appropriate moment."  Is it because the report doesn't agree with the US' story on the war - and that VP Biden arrives there today to declare the US' support for Saakhashvili - and once again to make claims that it was Russia who initiated the August 08 war?

CENTRAL EUROPE'S LONGSTANDING FEARS by Stratfor

Statement:  Different points of view are reflected in the following Stratfor Analysis on Central Europe's Longstanding Fears, followed by Sharon Tennison's IMHO which was sent to Stratfor.

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From Stratfor:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev in Munich on Thursday. The meeting produced talk of a Russian-German manufacturing alliance, a 500 million-euro ($704.7 million) joint investment agreement, several business deals that included infrastructure and transportation development, and a lot of chatter on Europe's energy issues, such as the proposed Nord Stream and Nabucco natural gas pipelines. The business deals are further evidence of a burgeoning relationship between Moscow and Berlin that is evolving into more than just a partnership of convenience based on German imports of Russian natural gas.

RUSSIA "RESET": CAPITOL HILL MEETINGS

by Sharon Tennison

"Change" is the key word defining the new Obama presidency; however, recent appointments to key administration positions may bring points of view which continue the downward spiral in U.S.-Russia relations.

Hence, we felt compelled to get information to Congress members, foreign policy staff and the Obama administration regarding issues of priority vis a vis Russia before the next policy is cast in stone - which it's predicted will be in July.

We organized a group of carefully-selected American PhD Russia experts which held 24 meetings across Capitol Hill last week (Apr 27 - May 1).

Meetings included Republican and Democrat Congress members on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the Senate and House Intelligence Committees and/or their national security advisors and foreign policy aides.

       

US-RUSSIA RELATIONS: SOMETHING IS BREWING

IN MY HUMBLE OPINION

by Sharon Tennison

Undoubtedly, something is brewing with U.S.-Russia relations right now - which must be attributable to President Obama.  He has said very little himself, but consider the following:

August

• Candidate Obama, at the beginning of the August Georgia invasion of South Ossetia, remarked that all parties should get to negotiating table. John McCain immediately jumped on him as "weak" on Russia and unable to lead the nation against Russia and other tyrants.
• Afterward, Obama took a somewhat hard line regarding Russia when pushed - perhaps to avoid the issue until he had more information or the election was over.
• Meanwhile, we know Obama was discreetly collecting information.  His foreign policy staff sent us an email shortly after the August Georgia/Ossetia/Russia war broke out,  asking "What do you know about what's going on in South Ossetia?"  (We had briefed his foreign policy team on Russia issues over the past 2.5 years.)  Immediately we emailed back a piece I had just written on the invasion and began sending his staff briefs on the Georgia debacle on a weekly basis. I sent them along with editorials that finally began coming out from Ambassadors and a few VIPs  until it was finally admitted that Georgia was the invader. At that point  U.S. media and the administration closed down coverage of this embarrassing military miscalculation.

US-RUSSIA POLICY: CHANGE COMING?

IN MY HUMBLE OPINION

by Sharon Tennison

Something is brewing re the US-Russia policy which few seem to be paying attention to - except those who count.

President Obama has been contained as usual, as though he's paying no attention to Russia, but this is his style - which is deceiving.  It was Obama, who at end of a long pre-election event, was asked by some journalist as he walked off the stage, "well, what about the Russia policy?  In an almost distracted manner, Obama quietly remarked, "we need to reset the Russia policy,"  and walked off into the crowds. This was not Joe Biden's line, as has been attributed - it was Obama's.  Biden simply borrowed and used it later on, which whipped up a round of new sound bites among the pundits.

Consider the following recent under-announced happenings: Kissinger's trip to Moscow in January and his follow up articles; a quiet contact (or more) with Mededev which leaked and sealed off quickly; the development of the relatively new Commission on US Policy for Russia with its star-studded board - and their new pronouncements as of yesterday; Dr. James Billington's quickly assembled Library of Congress Conference on future relations with Russia being held on March 27 (with a Who's Who guest list on Russia issues) to make recommendations to Obama re Russia relations; Kissinger, Sam Nunn, George Schultz and other dignitaries apparently landed quietly in Moscow today for meetings with Medvedev and Primakov - and there are other dropplings over the past couple of months to justify the guess that some new break through is underway. Even the over-announced cultural blunder of the yellow 'restart box', although unfortunate, was nonetheless another indication that we may be seeing some "about face" re Russia - perhaps with a similar effect of Nixon going to China?

To good to be true?  Perhaps, but all the above doesn't just happen for no reason in Washington.

IN MY HUMBLE OPINION (IMHO)

Response to Stratfor

by Sharon Tennison

The latest from Stratfor on Afghanistan is a lengthy article laying out some pretty dire scenarios with this as ending paragraph:

"A little more than a year ago, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the House Armed Services Committee, "In Afghanistan, we do what we can. In Iraq, we do what we must." That statement describes a clear gap in priorities for the United States in fighting these two wars. Now, with the spotlight on Afghanistan, the Obama administration will have to decide just how much it is willing to commit to a war in a country that has a historical record of outlasting foreign occupiers. Afghanistan may be a pressing issue for the United States, but it is also competing with a larger and arguably more strategic threat that will impact U.S. national security beyond the life of the U.S.-jihadist war - the Russian resurgence."

My response to George Friedman, CEO of Stratfor:

George, is it out of your realm of possibility that Russia is not the enemy you project? Of course, Russia will arm to the teeth as long as you and the US military project "enemy" on them.  Certainly you play into Russia's worst fears and paranoia - while you create a self-fulfilling prophecy through your assumptions. Russia's current leaders, excluding a small minority of hard liners, want nothing more than to rebuild their economy, provide decently for their people and to be respected in the world.

Suzanne Massie’s Advice to President Obama: Revive Reagan’s Policy toward Russia

by W. George Krasnow

Personal note  by Sharon Tennison

Suzanne Massie, Russian expert at Harvard's Russian Research Center, was introduced by Robert "Bud" McFarlane, National Security Advisor to President Ronald Reagan in January 24, 1984. After that first meeting with President Reagan and several of his cabinet members,  Ms. Massie was invited to 21 follow-up meetings from 1984-1988 with the President at the White House.

During these numerous meetings, Ms. Massie opened President Reagan's mentality beyond weapons and Cold War rhetoric.  She gave him historic and cultural insights regarding Russia and Russian conditioning that allowed him to think "out of the box" regarding the relationship between the superpowers - despite the mindsets of many by whom he was surrounded.  As a result of these meetings, America experienced a massive easing of superpower tensions and a reduction of Cold War mentality.

Ms. Massie is back again in 2008, urging President Elect Obama to consider following President Reagan's footsteps with Russia's current leaders.  We at ROPV go further:  we believe President Elect Obama would do well to have "21 sessions" with Ms. Massie in 2009 on all things Russian.

To access the article by W. George Krasnow, please click here Download Massie_Obama_Reagan

Photo source: http://www.suzannemassie.com/bio.html  

A Democracy-Building Project in Russia

By Sharon Tennison

An American Rotarian living in Petrozavodsk, Russia since 2001 is involved in a fascinating task. It is to create for Russia a "democracy building" curriculum called "Civic Education" based on America's Founding Fathers' concept of democracy in the US between 1662 and 1775. The curriculum is being prepared for implementation in all Russian Federation public schools.