|
Emerging US-Russia relations-I
-Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal
Actor president Ronald Reagan and Communist Mikhail Gorbachev, 1987
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[US-led NATO global state terrorism (GST) being unleashed on Muslim nations did provide a much sought after platform, albeit temporarily, for the perpetual foes USA and Russia to come together on a terror program in Islamic world. Political commentators correctly view about the rise and fall of Russo-US relations off and on creating fluctuation in the bilateral ties and confusion among the world nations that are forced to keep resetting their foreign policies depending on the US-Russia mood of a given era. End of WW-II brought them together to control the world through the newly founded UN but the dangerously growing armament piles and Cold war manipulations, dividing the entire world on ideological grounds, brought them to the verge of a real war. Fall of Soviet and socialist systems once made them again “close” friends, but soon they resumed rhetoric war and turned enemies on various issues. Although trade & cooperation between them continued as usual, confrontation has had an upper hand. They do cooperate on some issues while opposing on some other for self-reasons and Sept 11 offered the right venue for them to cooperate on waging an anti-Islamic terror war].
ONE
Arrival of N. Khrushchev, M. Gorbachev on Soviet scene and Sept-11 event have been the milestones in US-Russia relations when, each time, there was an attempt by both sides to come together to forge joint enterprises to supervise the world affairs, to dictate their collective terms to the rest of the world. However, the Gorbachevian efforts in 1980s did make some basic shift in the confrontational bi-lateral approach to moderation towards cooperation, to some extent. However, what appeared to be the turning point in US-Russia relations in early 1990s turned out to be only a temporary phase in understanding and an aberration on both sides to decide on shedding their respective, arrogant posture. Tensions have remained. In reality except the fact the WW-III fever subsided, they have managed to carry forward the conflictual rhetoric and tough luggage all these years. Neither in disarmament nor in trade relations have both made any spectacular achievements so far.
The follow-up efforts from Reagan-Gorbachev meeting in 1987 resulted in a few positive trends in US-Russia ties and, it appears, the change has come in US-Russia relations with President Obama promising to reset the US mindset and its external ties. The proposed nuclear shied in East Europe by Bushdom masters endangering Russian borders, shattered all hopes for reconciliations as Russia proposed alternative plans to upset US plans. In showcasing the new US foreign policy shaping the Washington’s attitude to the former Socialist Block of east European nations led by Russia, Barack Obama has told East European states he is abandoning plans for an anti-missile shield there. The shield, involving interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar complex in the Czech Republic, was intended to defend against any long-range missile launches from "rogue" states (such as Iran and North Korea), but unofficially including Russia. Alternative U.S. proposals for sea-based defenses appeared less likely to raise Kremlin objections. Russia says US plans to deploy missiles in an enclave next to Poland had not been shelved, despite a decision by the USA to rethink plans for missile defense in Europe. But a former Russian diplomatic negotiator indicated he thought the deployments in Kaliningrad region, bordering Poland, unlikely to go ahead.
When, on October 07, 2001, US-led NATO launched terror attacks n Islamic Afghanistan, the terror Neocons inspired Bushdom masters had made it sure that its traditional enemy Russia also falls in line to support their proposed genocides and destructions in Afghanistan in the name of tracking fundamentalist Muslims. Russia long felt harassed by the western support for Chechnya independence quickly responded to Bush in exchange for US opposition to Chechnya. So, it was a case of mutual biting between two top most military powers.
Rusisa always look for opportunites to come closer to USA. Sept. 11 offered that and catapulted Russia into the elite league of world politics. Previously, new weak Russia was on the edges of world politics, but from that point on, the West realized that international conflicts could not be solved without Russia . But after a brief post-September 11 honeymoon, the US-Russia relationship suffered a long and bitter break-up. President Putin, who had assumed presidency upon killing thousands of Muslims in Chechnya, began to take umbrage at the speed with which the Western powers were proceeding to incorporate the East-Central European states into their camp, and particularly the rapid drawing into the EU and NATO, of those countries.
Russia used the Sept-11 to finish off the Chechnya problem almost for ever and USA stopped supporting Chechnya casue thereafter. Here Russia achieved a major policy victory over the West. After Sept.11, it was expected that US-Russian relations would improve on the basis of the joint war on terrorism and that both powers would no longer see each other as competitors in the post-Soviet space. Immediately after Sept. 11, it was noticeable how the two powers were accommodating each other. The US stationed their air force in Central Asia and Moscow accepted that because in doing so the Americans took over the task of fighting Islamic extremism, terrorism. Since Sept 11 terrorm was engineered by the insiders meticuloulsy, USA was not keen to give Moscow any special advantage over that. But USA deiceed to use Tiussa in further advancing its energy goals.
The Obama administration at the very outset declared it seeks to "reset" battered ties with Russia so that the two former Cold War foes can cooperate on Iran, on fighting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan and on reducing their vast arsenals of nuclear weapons. Washington has won permission to move trains carrying supplies for U.S. forces across Russia via Central Asia to Afghanistan, avoiding routes through Pakistan that had come under frequent attack from the Taliban. The US has recently been adopting a conciliatory tone toward Russia, trying not to touch on sore points by asking about human rights or press freedoms. Just last year, the US State Department criticized a lack of democracy in Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry reacted promptly, accusing Washington of harboring double standards: "There is a clear division of human rights for internal and external consumption." However, despite the announcement that Washington would stop lecturing Moscow about the need for greater democratization, Clinton still has planned to meet with leading Russian human rights activists during her visit.
In her recent visit, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was on her best behavior in Moscow. She assured Russia of a radical change of course in Washington. Freedom House regularly publishes country reports and rankings in which it divides the world's countries into three categories: free, partly free and not free. On the large "World Map of Freedom," Russia is regularly colored in deep blue shades, signifying it is "not free." In response to criticism from the West, the Kremlin even created in 2008 its own Institute of Democracy and Cooperation, which is intended to make Western countries -- especially the US -- look more closely at their own practices. The war in Afghanistan and a nuclear arms reduction treaty are also expected to feature prominently in Mrs. Clinton's talks. She has also visited Switzerland, the UK, and Ireland on her five-day European tour.
Today, after about 8 years of joint terror operations in Afghanistan, USA and Russia have reverted back to mild cold war on Georgian and other issues. They have been on a collusion course for decades now, to be more precisely since the end of the World war- II. The two top most military powers keep themselves entangled in political, economic and security and technological spheres. Each set of leaders of Russia and USA tried to reorganize their tensed relations but eventually they invariably come back to square one. After the Cold war, both thought they could business in the absence of politics and ideology. The bilateral conflicts and concerns include issues of disarmament, START, shield, Georgia, and new ones relating to energy and environmental issues (climate change, rain control mechanism, etc). Super powers hide their hidden agendas quite effectively. Russia has a deep distrust of the US–led west and generally regards the US as a determined foe and NATO as a threat to Russia’s existence, while Washington considers Russia also a rogue state.
Today, the major issues affecting the bilateral ties are NATO as a military organization, nuclear shield, disarmament, arms limitation, Georgia and other former Soviet republics, Russian trade with Iran and nuclear rights, trade and global interests. Similarly, the anti-Islamic terror wars being unleashed by US-led NATO and its eastern terror allies have brought the former foes somewhat together Russians supporting the Western genocides of Muslims.
-----------------------
Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal
Specialist on State Terrorism
Independent Columnist in International Affairs, Research Scholar (JNU) & the only Indian to have gone through entire India, a fraud and terror nation in South Asia.
|