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#2
Insight magazine
July 22, 2002
SYMPOSIUM
Is Russia Making Progress Toward Becoming a Democratic
Republic?
YES: Russia can't be expected to transform itself into a perfect democracy
overnight.
By Rep. Curt Weldon
Weldon, a Republican, represents Pennsylvania's Seventh District. He chairs the House Armed Services subcommittee on Military Research and Development and also serves on the House Science Committee.
America truly is a remarkable place. So remarkable that we often take for granted the abundant resources that make our country a haven for freedom and democracy. Despite the tremendous freedoms and prosperity that our nation enjoys, we continue to face significant challenges. These challenges include the continuing threat of terrorism, mounting energy problems, underfunded scientific research and a lack of educational opportunities. To continue our nation's growth and success, we must look for new and innovative ways to meet our goals. As our nation moves forward with the war on terrorism, we have been forced to rethink our role in the world and our dealings with the coalition forces that are involved. Americans are well aware that we have had to deal with some less than perfect nations to achieve our goals.
Clearly, one of America's closest allies in the war against terrorism is Russia. From the Russians' early support of our actions taken in the Middle East — providing access to a previous Soviet military base in Tashkent, Uzbekistan — to intelligence information that they continue to provide, their help has proved to be invaluable. If the war has taught us anything, it is that we cannot afford to go it alone.
But opponents and isolationists are quick to fault Russia. They are skeptical of our relationship and ignore the benefits that we would gain from full engagement. These cynics warn that Russia's young democracy is a farce and that we should approach any coexistence with extreme caution. They point out that the press truly is not free, economic reforms are not taking shape quick enough and lack of government reform protects corrupt oligarchs and thieves.
While some of these criticisms may have merit, the United States should not be so quick to judge. After nearly 230 years, the American experiment still is under constant refinement. It took a horrific war for the United States to end the horrible slave trade. Women were prevented from voting in this country until 1920. However, are we somehow to believe that after nearly 75 years of repressive communist rule, Russia is supposed to rise from the ashes and become a perfect country?
Before we dismiss Russia, let's first examine some facts of how the democratic process is improving.
Elections and participation: Healthy democracies demand participation. Russian voter turnout in recent elections indicates a healthy dose of necessary involvement. During the last presidential election nearly 69 percent of eligible Russians went to the polls. Compare that to American turnout that barely cleared 51 percent in the 2000 presidential election.
Freedom of the press: The unfortunate takeover of Russia's largest privately owned media group this year was a disappointing step backward for the press and freedom of speech. Recent auctions to private firms, however, send an encouraging signal that an independent media is not a lost cause.
Economic factors: Following the Russian financial crisis of 1998, it appears the largest hurdle of transition from a planned economy to a free-market economy has been cleared. Gross domestic product steadily is increasing, inflation remains low and disciplined government spending has kept budget deficits incredibly low.
Legal reforms: Russia's judiciary is the least developed of the three branches of government, but recent legal improvements are encouraging. Trial-by-jury has been introduced in certain criminal cases and Russia has adopted a new system to expand judicial powers. Fully developed law enforcement and legal systems not only will rid Russia of corruption that has stifled progress, but it also will boost confidence of international investors that have been hesitant to invest in Russia. Reforms take time, but her leaders are making progress. However, turning our back on Russia now will do little to improve the situation and may disturb a potential security and defense alliance. And keeping Russia at arm's length will prevent us from reaching our economic and life-improvement goals.
The end of the Soviet Union was followed by optimistic predictions of an unprecedented level of cooperation between the two countries. Unfortunately, a dark period emerged in our relationship thanks to misguided American policies and rampant Russian corruption.
Touting a foreign policy based more on personality than politics, the United States turned a blind eye while Russia equipped our adversaries. We failed to impose sanctions after we caught Russia selling sensitive weapons and technologies to rogue nations 16 times. The previous administration was preoccupied with shielding Boris Yeltsin and his corrupt syndicate rather than exposing his cronies who siphoned off billions of dollars in foreign aid.
The Bush administration has studied the mistakes of the past and understands that the status quo toward Russia must change. The administration's more cautious approach of reaching out to Russia is making remarkable progress.
Like the age-old problem of the college graduate unable to find a job in his field of study due to a lack of experience, Russia finds herself in a similar situation. How can Russia be expected to look, act and feel like a democracy if the world's leading democracy is unwilling to show this relatively new democracy the ropes?
The fact is, Russia is moving in the right direction. President Vladimir Putin consistently signals his willingness to change. He clearly wants to stop proliferation, strengthen the country's legal system, crack down on corruption and reform the business community. With these encouraging changes, we must step in and give our assistance where needed and take advantage of existing opportunities.
To move the debate forward, a team of leading Russian experts and I worked to formulate a comprehensive proposal leading to opportunities that would expand and improve our relationship. In the proposal, we specifically identified 11 areas of cooperation that exist between closely aligned countries. Suggestions included programs that seek closer ties in the areas of defense and security, economic development, energy and natural-resource programs, judicial and legal reform, local government reform, agricultural development, cultural and education programs, environmental cooperation, health care, science and technology, space exploration and aeronautics.
While aggressively seeking cooperation in all these areas would foster a better relationship, clearly our most pressing and immediate needs lie in defense and security, energy, economic development and science and technology.
With regard to defense and security, we must focus on moving Russian scientific efforts away from defense work to nonmilitary production. Scientists should participate in non-weapons work that benefits the Russian economy and the advancement of science and technology. One area may include codevelopment of programs such as the Russian-American Observation Satellite program. Reinvigorating this research and development program would yield a space-based sensor that consists of co-orbiting U.S. and Russian satellites for simultaneous observations of defense and environmental concerns.
Russia also should be a key player in joint development of a missile-defense program. The world's leader in missile-defense technology — as well as the possessor of their own missile-defense system — Russia recently has completed work on its S-500 missile-defense system. Lacking proper resources to complete construction of the S-500, cooperation drastically could cut the time it would take to protect both nations.
Technology transfers and missiles are not the only things threatening our national security. Since the war on terrorism mainly has focused on nations in the Middle East, the United States has reexamined its dependence on oil from that part of the world. Russia, currently the world's second-largest oil producer, could fill the void as the United States moves away from Middle Eastern oil. Bilateral energy cooperation can provide mutual benefits by contributing to economic development as well as a shrinking role for countries that threaten our national security.
Solving our energy issues unfortunately does not end with shoring up a supply of petroleum. Increasing nuclear-production capabilities also is an avenue we must explore. Because both countries are confronted with the issue of spent nuclear fuel, Russian and American scientists should work on programs designed to find useful products that can be produced from such materials. The advantages would be twofold. Transparent efforts such as this could rid the environment of hazardous material while expanding our energy-generation capabilities — a winning combination for scientists, the environment and proliferation watchdogs.
Maturing democracies can only survive with a healthy economy. Therefore, the United States should play a role in boosting Russia's stature as an economic power. We first must remove the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to the 1974 Trade Act and help foster a sense of normal trade relations between our two countries. Another initiative would be to facilitate Russia's accession into the World Trade Organization so it could become a significant participant in the global economy. The United States also must consider restructuring Russia's London and Paris Club debt. This heavy debt burden is nearly equal to Russia's expenditure on the judiciary and law enforcement.
Increasing funds to these programs only will hasten needed reforms. We also could help revitalize the entrepreneurial spirit by stressing the importance of upholding contractual agreements as a way to continue outside investment, as well as giving new businesspersons a greater incentive to flex their capitalist muscle.
Cooperative programs have existed between our two countries for many years and have proved very successful. It is crucial that we work to increase this level of cooperation. If we let the skeptics win the debate by turning our back on Russia, we will be doing ourselves a great disservice. Not only will we repeat the mistakes of the past, but we would provide an incentive for Russia to strengthen alliances with countries such as China and Iran. Worse, we would be turning our back on a young and fragile democracy that could provide another level of security for world peace. As was proved in the past, Russia's problems today are the world's problems tomorrow.
Simply put, America needs to expand her horizons and rid the world of terrorism. If we have the courage to work with a democracy that still is experiencing growing pains, these challenges can not only be met but exceeded.
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