US-Russian Relations
I offered these comments at NYU in New
York City in late November, 2015
I was part of a panel, other members
consisting of former Senator Bill
Bradley; former
Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Jack
Matlock; historian, Stephen Cohen and former Ambassador William vanden Heuvel
Key Points:
1. proving very possible to continue to do
business in Russia, despite the geo-political tensions between our two
countries and the significant financial challenges growing from the decline in
the price of oil and, to a lesser extent, sanctions. Russian political leadership has stopped short of falling
into the trap of impeding American business in Russia. Neither the political leadership nor
the public has entered into what we have seen in some countries in the past, such
as boycotts of U.S. products.
Russian leadership
has stated that it is open and anxious for investment and multi-country
collaboration. It has been very
consistent on this position, including the recent summit meetings of the
Foreign Investment Advisory Committee attended by over 30 CEOs and chaired by
Prime Minister Medvedev.
The rank and file in
Russia appreciate the higher standards that have been set for employees and for
business by multi-national firms like ours.
These businesses
have had a positive influence on life in Russia.
People often raise
with me whether corruption has affected our business and the short answer is
“no”; while overtures have been made, they have been refused and people
understand that’s just not something we would do.
Note that there
is another aspect of doing business in Russia I’d note. My own experience over 25 years has
given me and other business leaders the opportunity to come to know Russian men
and women, in the government, universities, and our own employees that has
helped us even more understand how common our basic interests are, underscoring
even more the need to come together where we can.
2.
Let me make just a few observations following
the comments from my associates:
a.
What is Russia’s/Putin’s long-term intent? Some see it as wanting to extend its
geographical reach and presence in ways analogous to what existed under
Communism. I do not. Time will tell. I think Putin’s goal is to achieve a sustaining,
economically thriving, respected Russian state, looked at and treated as a
partner in critical world matters and free of what would appear to be
encroaching threats on its immediate borders.
There is no
question that for Russia to have a healthy, growing economy, and for the entire
world to be safe from terrorism, Russia needs constructive, non-adversarial
relationships with the U.S. and the West.
Whatever, I believe
the main thing we need to do is to understand what are our core goals as a Nation,
goals which parallel what the world needs and identify those which, in order to
achieve, require that Russia and the U.S. (and others) work together.
Today, I believe
those goals—those threats—are, most importantly:
·
Terrorism
·
Failed states
·
Nuclear proliferation and disaster
At a minimum,
we need to:
·
Avoid a further breakdown in the relationships
between Russia and the U.S. This
means that we must work together to resolve what are the open wounds now in
Ukraine and Syria and others parts of the Middle East which are killing
hundreds of thousands of refugees.
Both require political settlements which require Russia and the U.S.
(and others) to be at the table, as well as the defeat of ISIS.
·
Come together to identify what are the common
interests which Russia and the U.S. and others must work to achieve. Interests so important and so requiring
Russia and the U.S. to work together that we must form a common goal and
plan. Those for me are two-fold:
o
Avoiding the risk of nuclear proliferation and
disaster.
o
Combatting terrorism, starting with but not
exclusively combatting ISIS
We are going to need
to accept the fact that some values as they relate to the mode of democracy and
cultural issues such as same-sex marriage will be different in Russia than the
U.S., just as they are different with many other countries and, indeed, in
parts of our own country and have differed over time. We must avoid seeming to or actually working to impose our
values on Russia. We must
acknowledge Russia as a major global power, with a history and status that
deserve and demand respect. We should
dial down the rhetoric which vilifies the other party when what they are doing
is essentially expressing their own national interest and pride as we do. Such rhetoric runs the grave risk of
creating “self-fulfilling” negative outcomes—“mythical enemies”—distracting us
from the real enemies in front of us.
Of course, we should
make it clear that we will not stand by and allow Russia or any country to
infringe upon the integrity of another national state like Ukraine.
We should be under
no illusion that Putin’s mindset and deeply entrenched attitudes will change
quickly. They are the product of
decades of experience. To the
degree they change, they will change based on actions and behaviors on both our
parts as we work together on objectives of common interest. Most importantly, at this moment,
combatting ISIS and reaching political settlement that brings greater stability
and peace to Ukraine and Syria and other countries of the Middle East.
I hope and believe President
Putin understands that it will only be through a coalition of forces,
prominently including the United States, that terrorism can be beaten, nuclear
proliferation avoided and economic progress optimized.
I am convinced that
if leaders will come together with cool heads and firm will to identify the
principles and goals and focus the discourse forward on our common imperatives,
including combatting terrorism and taking steps to control the threat of
nuclear annihilation, we can progress.
I identify with the
way Henry Kissinger expressed it: On
a foundation of recognizing the realities of Russian power and interests and on
treating Russia as the global power it is, we should identify how “their
concerns can be reconciled with our necessities” and try to “integrate Russia
into the international order in a way that takes Russia’s interests into
account.”
It has always been
human nature that we come together best when we face a common enemy. Unlike the past, we do not have
ideological differences with Russia as we do with ISIS that should lead to war
or to competing commitments to global expansion. We should work together to resolve the greatest threats to
our two nations and the entire world.
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