From: "Robert Bowie" <bowierobert@bellsouth.net>
Subject: comment on Washington Post editorial
Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2008
You asked for comments on the Washington Post article in JRL, #221
I've learned from reading JRL over a long period of time something that never had completely dawned on me before: that the "Eastern Establishment" press (New York Times, Wash. Post, New Yorker, New York Review of Books, Los Angles Times, etc., etc.) presents a one-sided, often totally distorted picture of realities in Russia.
Obama must be reading the intelligence reports by now. I'm not privvy to them, but I suspect that they are dominated by this same bias. In his recent appearance on "Meet the Press" the President Elect simply repeated the platitudes (about Russia) that he used during his campaign. I suspect that he has not had time to think deeply about what his Russian policy will be. During the campaign he probably decided that, since 99% of the American public see all Russians as the "bad guys" and the "evil ones," he couldn't go wrong by making a few remarks about Russian "bullying." Of course he didn't go so far as McCain, with that lacrymose silliness about how "We are all Georgians." Now, after the election, if he hasn't found anything new to say about Russia, Obama should just keep (temporarily) quiet.
The first thing that President Obama should do right now is scrap his Russian advisors, e.g., Zbig, whose Polish background gets him going ape-shit every time he even hears the word "Russia," and McFaul, who has been beating the same old worn drum on all things Russian for years. As for Condi, she's a battered Cold Warrior with little in-depth knowledge of Russia (not of the language, not of the culture, not of the people, etc). Keeping Gates as Defense Sec. is okay, though. He has a sense of measure.
Unfortunately, not only the academics (political "scientists"), but also the "think tankers" in DC also recycle the same tired Russo-phobic ideas. Probably what they are doing is repeating what they think the Washington politicians want to hear. The politicians, meanwhile, have an egregiously superficial understanding of Russia (Senator Hagel is one exception). I suppose what we need are advisors divorced from Academe and far from the Beltway. You think that Bama's making any attempt to find such people? Not likely.
As for Putin's latest pronouncements (and Medvedev's tough talk on the day after the election), this policy, typical of the Putin agressive stance that we've been seeing for some time, is ill considered. It's not expedient for the Russians, whose military power is limited, and whose economic power has recently declined with the global recession, to be putting words in the mouth of the new American President before he is even in office. I wouldn't call it exactly "intimidation," as the Post does, but it is arrogance (typically Putinian). It may play well with the Russian people, who appreciate the machoman stuff and the vulgar jokes, but in world diplomacy it is counter productive. Putin should let the "good cop" Medvedev do all the diplomacy for the foreseeable future, and stop putting words in his mouth.
Some advice for Bama (if he wants to listen to me, which, let's face it, he does not):
At your first meeting with Putin, DON'T SMILE. Nobody told President Carter that before his first meeting with Brezhnev. Russians see smiling as a sign of weakness, or idiocy, and walking in a room smiling is never a good way to start off a relationship with Russians. Of course, if the first meeting is with Medvedev, he (coached by his advisors on the "American smile") will probably walk into the room beaming broadly. Then we'll have a nice contrast and an immediate American psychological trump: in the face of an unsmiling Bama, Dima will end up looking (to his fellow countrymen) ludicrous, demeaned.
Furthermore, don't declare any Russian leaders your "friends." Putin was, at first, irritated, by Dubya's ingenuous declaration that "VLAD-imir" was his "friend." Later the canny djadja Volodja decided to take advantage of this, began, in fact, using the familiar "you" (TY) in speaking to the press of what he'd been telling his buddy George.
President Obama: walk into the meeting and look Vlad-Vlad in the eye, unsmiling, firm. Make sure you stand very close to him during the photo ops, so it will be apparent how much taller you are. Putin has a complex about his height. That's why he so wants to "hang Saakashvili by the balls," because he heard that the brash, and somewhat unbalanced Georgian leader had nicknamed him "Liliputin."
Finally, President Obama: don't come up with any nicknames for Pooty-Poot. Call him, unsmilingly, "Vladimir Vladimirovich." I know it's a mouthful, but he'll appreciate hearing it. Also get your new Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, practicing on how to pronouce this name and patryonimic. Name and patryonimic is the normal respectful address for Russians. Using only the first name is an American affectation, and calling everybody "my friends" (while smiling a Nixonian smile) is not going to fool any Russians either. But the main thing, President Obama: FIRE ALL YOUR RUSSIAN ADVISORS. NOW!
Robert Bowie's website is www.russianmindsetsconsultancies.com.
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