Negotiating: A Special Skill

Russian and American leaders found common grounds.

The president of the United States picked up the red receiver. “Now then Dimitri. You know how we’ve always talked about the possibility of something going wrong with the Bomb. The Bomb, Dimitri. The hydrogen bomb.”

This conversation took place between President Merkin Muffley and Soviet Premier Dmitri Kisov in Stanley Kubrick’s film “Dr. Strangelove,” 1964. The film came out after the Cuban crisis, and although it was a meant to be satiric, no one laughed in the theatres. 46 years passed. Today, when you watch “Dr. Strangelove,” you laugh. Kubrick’s film is not seen as satire anymore but more as humor. This became possible with the end of the Cold War.

“Well, Dmitri, we’ve reached an agreement . . .” This is also from a telephone conversation between two leaders: U.S. President Barack Obama and Russia’s leader, Dmitri Medvedev. Time: Spring 2010. A few days later, on April 8th, they signed a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, pushing nuclear Armageddon further away. A new threat was brought to the forefront — the threat of international terrorists capturing nuclear bombs. This was the main theme of the summit in Washington, D.C., on April 12-13.

During the summit, Dmitri Medvedev made a speech at Brookings Institution, and right after that, I paid a visit to its president, Strobe Talbott, international journalist, political scientist and diplomat. In 1994-2001 he served as an adviser to the Secretary of State and to President Clinton on “Russian issues.”

“Here at Brookings Institution, the first meeting of your president with American political scientists took place,” said Talbott, “and President Medvedev impressed them with his openness, deep knowledge, sense of humor and, most importantly, progressive views and ideas. For many attendees of the meeting that was a pleasant surprise.”*

Talbott is certain that Obama and Medvedev have proven the effectiveness of high level meetings as means of solving the most difficult international issues. “Summit talks become productive only when the participants are on the same page,” he said. “For example, nothing good would come out of a summit between Reagan, Andropov and Chernenko. But Reagan was able to find common grounds with Gorbachev. I can tell from my personal experience that Clinton and Yeltsin understood each other well. Obama and Medvedev are modern leaders — they clearly like each other. It’s in the best interest of peace and Russian-American relations that they keep working on personal contacts and use them to achieve real results.”

Brookings Institution is a liberal think tank. Medvedev’s speech cut to the thick of conservative “Kremlinologists” who were not invited to the building on Massachusetts Avenue. They openly shared their discontent with me and “promised” to oppose ratification of the new treaty in the Senate.

However, George Shultz, a political heavyweight and former Secretary of State, highly appraised this treaty during our conversation. According to him, it helps move the development of US-Russian relations in a more constructive direction.

In “Dr. Strangelove.” President Muffley tells the Soviet leader Kisov, “Dmitri, and remember, there’s just one thing, we are all in this together.” What we share is the threat of nuclear war. In front of that threat, it’s only possible to survive united. The alternative is to perish divided. That’s why it’s so important to rewrite the script of Kubrick’s movie, and give it a happy ending — not a Hollywood happy ending, but a real one.

*Editor’s note: None of the quotes by Strobe Talbott could be verified.