The Russophobia Scarecrow

In his column in today's Moscow Times, "The Russophobia Card," Andrei Tsygankov uses recent negative comments by Hillary Clinton and John McCain about Vladimir Putin as a launching pad for an attack on alleged Russophobia in American political and media circles. The premise that criticism of Putin equates to condemnation of Russia is a flawed starting point - as Anders Aslund recently noted, taking a dim view of the former does not have to mean one has given up hope for the latter.

After all, the harsh criticism to which Prof. Tsygankov refers has been chiefly of Putin and his signature style - and is it really surprising that individuals who are vying for the votes of American citizens would criticize someone who has sought to score political points internationally and at home by employing anti-American rhetoric? Furthermore, while McCain's criticism of Russia has been something of a minor campaign theme, one can discount this at least a bit if one recalls that one of McCain's main goals at this stage is to differentiate his approach to the world from George Bush's in the eyes of the voters. As for the implication that Hillary has been "increasingly" talking about Russia in any way whatsoever, I believe that's simply not the case.

Ironically, Tsygankov seems in a sense to be accusing McCain and Clinton of filching a page from Putin's campaign playbook. In making the largely unsupportable statement that "[t]he U.S. presidential candidates are increasingly playing the Russophobia card in their campaigns," he suggests an atmosphere which is the mirror image of the crescendo of anti-Americanism which accompanied Russia's recent Duma and Presidential elections.

Tsygankov asserts that Joseph Biden's recent Wall Street Journal column "admitted" that "Russophobia is truly back into fashion" in the U.S. That is an interesting gloss on Biden's column, which actually observed that "[b]y suppressing dissent, fueling suspicion of the West, and bullying smaller neighbors, the Putin administration has managed to undermine Moscow's prestige and bring Russophobia back into fashion." Far from being the reluctant admission of Russophobia implied by Tsygankov, Biden's column was at least the second in the last month to appear in a major American newspaper with proposals on how to improve the bilateral relationship - and, more importantly, acknowledging that "[w]hatever the American strategy has been, it clearly isn't working." This suggests that, instead of the monolithic Russophobia implied by Tsygankov, the American establishment's thinking on Russia can be characterized by a growing recognition that each side bears some of the blame for the dysfunctional relationship and that a search for new solutions is necessary, but that an optimistic approach to the future is still possible.

Tsygankov criticizes American political and media elites for their ignorant and arrogant approach to Russia. I don't disagree with his assertions in this regard, but I don't understand how Americans applying an approach to Russia which is sadly typical of the American approach to all foreign lands adds up to "Russophobia." Unfortunately, it has often seemed that simple neglect and short-sightedness have been to blame for America's policy missteps with regard to Russia, rather than the sort of anti-Russian conspiracy suggested by Tsygankov. And when Russia's head of state goes out of his way to be stridently anti-American in his public statements, is it any wonder that Americans who are not specialists in foreign relations - and even some who are - fail to see how the US-Russian relationship could actually be a fruitful one for both sides?

I tend to agree with Tsygankov that the rapid expansion of NATO represented a triumph of interest group lobbying over what should have been seen as one of the US's overriding national interests - a cordial relationship with Russia. Interestingly, Tsygankov laments the lack of a Russia lobby but does not note the cause. In Alexei Pankin's words, "People inside the Russian president's administration or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whose professional duty makes them responsible for shaping Russia's image" display "the distinctive characteristic of the current regime's mentality, utterly suspicious of independent initiatives and those who are not asking for money but offering all kinds of opportunities. It freely allocates funds as a form of reward for some sort of service to the administration, but not a means to achieve a goal." The ineffectual attempts to create a Russia lobby showcase the downside of having the unbridled accumulation of personal wealth as a substitute for a national idea.

I couldn't agree more with Tsygankov's observation that "Russophobia is not in U.S. national interests and is not supported by the American public." This suggests, though, that his concern may be misplaced and that Americans don't actually listen too closely to what our presidential candidates say about issues like Russia policy. And why should we? It's not as though most Americans decide who to vote for based on foreign policy issues, with the notable exception of Iraq.

Tsygankov suggests a need for a "fundamental psychological adjustment in Washington away from Russophobia" and cautions that "the healing of the U.S. Russophobic mindframe is going to require a lot of time." But no matter who is elected US president, "Russophobia" will not have been a major plank in their campaign platform, nor is it quite the central element of the DC zeitgeist that Tsygankov suggests. Even McCain could be expected, optimistically, to allow cooler heads to prevail and avoid sudden moves. Anti-Americanism in Russia, on the other hand, is a defining characteristic of the country's foreign policy and was a key element of Putin's public statements during the recent electoral cycle. Based on this, healing would seem to be more urgently needed in Moscow than in Washington.

I found this column worthy of such a lengthy response because it appears in the Moscow Times at a moment when the bilateral relationship appears to be at a fork in the road, and some in Moscow may believe that Tsygankov's kaleidoscope - in which isolated critical comments about Putin by McCain and Clinton are multiplied by reflection into a full-blown campaign of "increasing" Russophobia - is a valid lens through which to view the American political and media scene, which could bolster the arguments of those in Russia who would prefer to prolong the nostalgia-inducing atmosphere of Cold-War-style posturing which has gone on for too long already.

As a linguistic aside, it is interesting to note the origin of the phrase chosen for the title of Tsygankov's column (whether by its author or by the MT opinion-page editor). According to Wikipedia, when we suggest that someone is "playing the race card," what we mean is "that someone has falsely accused another person of being a racist in order to gain some sort of advantage." Since accusations of Russophobia are often trotted out in an effort to deflect attention from legitimate criticism of Russian policies, the title seems unintentionally apt.