#3
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
No. 138
July 2002
[translation from RIA Novosti for personal use only]
WHO STANDS TO GAIN FROM RUSSIAN-US RAPPROCHEMENT?
By Alexei KIVA, political-science expert

I'd like to note from the very outset that Russian-Western rapprochement, Russian-US rapprochement, in particular, is a good and progressive idea. You see, it's absolutely inexpedient to quarrel with the United States, which is an extremely powerful country, and to confront it head on.

Still there is one snag here. Virtually all Soviet and Russian leaders, Josef Stalin included, aimed to establish normal relations with the United States. This intention was also manifested during the Second World War (and even before it), which facilitated Soviet-US rapprochement for a while.

FDR (Franklin Delano Roosevelt), who died in April 1945, was replaced with Harry Truman; consequently, bilateral relations cooled off in no time at all. Nikita Khrushchev, who advocated peaceful co-existence, managed to accomplish a lot in the field of Soviet-US relations. However, unidentified reconnaissance planes started flying over the Soviet Union at that time. As a result, Khrushchev decided that it was impossible to play it fair with the United States.

Mikhail Gorbachev also wanted to improve Soviet-US relations, talking about socialism with a human face, new thinking and a common European home to the applause of his new Western "friends". Meanwhile the other side did its best to undermine real-life socialism from the inside and to demolish the USSR.

For his own part, president Boris Yeltsin trusted the West so much that he permitted Western-style reforms under the direct supervision of Western advisers. Even important personnel policy issues were often tackled with due account taken of US leaders' opinion. Russian democrats believed that the United States would help Russia to convert its economy to market patterns in no time at all (through massive financial aid) as a sign of gratitude for the abolition of the anti-Western socialist system.

In real life, though, the United States kept implementing an entirely different scenario. Shock therapy, as well as smash-and- grab privatization, wrecked the Russian economy, undermining this country's military-economic potential. Massive capital flight, rather than financial aid, got underway. The Russian federal budget dwindled many times over, equalling that of a small country. Vital national infrastructure components, i.e. science, the military-industrial sector, the army and others, began to degrade on a large scale. This situation enabled the United States to drastically enhance its military-economic positions and to expand its global influence accordingly. In the long run, the United States started developing post-Soviet territory.

Summing up, one can say that Soviet-Western friendship, which thrived under Gorbachev, eventually compelled the USSR to leave Europe and to dismantle the Warsaw Pact Organization. The perestroika drive completely wrecked our social system and our state, which had existed for many centuries. The new-mentality concept proved to be yet another utopia, with the common European home becoming irrelevant all by itself. Russian positions were weakened considerably in just about every conceivable sphere under Yeltsin. Russia's financial-economic dependence on the West was also enhanced. Besides, the West spread its influence over most post-Soviet republics. And, finally, this country lost its remaining positions on the Balkan peninsula.

Quite possibly, the US side has now conceived a scenario for the sake of attaining certain behind-the-scenes goals. Washington, which strives to ensure absolute long-term security for itself and to unilaterally decide the world's destinies, still has quite a few headaches. First of all, the US side fears that China might eventually turn into a super-power. Second, it is quite worried about Russia's immense nuclear-missile potential and the ability of our resurgent country to establish some new intra-CIS alliance. Moreover, the United States is afraid that Russia can join hands with China, India and some other countries, thereby countering its aspirations for global domination.

It would be a complete surprise if the incumbent US Administration's policy didn't aim to neutralize such threats.

So, what is happening under the influence of that Russian-US "fraternization"? Ukraine has stated that, due to Russia-NATO rapprochement, it also has every reason for joining this organization. Russian-Belarussian relations have deteriorated somewhat. China has become rather apprehensive. NATO countries have deployed their military units in some CIS countries, which have an important strategic location in the context of the afore-mentioned US global interests. The West loses nothing, as it transforms Russia into a full-fledged G8 member, also recognizing its market economy status, etc. Does Russia influence the world to a smaller extent than Canada or Italy? Moreover, does China have a more adequate market economy than Russia does?

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