Nikolai Zlobin: “If You Are a Patriot, You Have to Be Against the West.”

Russia and the U.S. don’t have the same relationship that the U.S. and the USSR did. Russian-American relations don’t mean much to Americans any more.

There are only two aspects that Americans are interested in—Russia as a country with nuclear strength capable of destroying America, and energy.

Russia is one of the biggest energy suppliers, and the energy market is very important to America; everything else is not that important to her. Today, Russia is not the center of American political thinking like it was in the recent past.

Americans never compare themselves with Russians; they are above that. That is why they are still amazed that Russia always compares factors, people, and behavior with America. To some degree it just shows that Russia has problems. I also think that a lot of Russians feel some nostalgia for the times when the USSR’s military was equivalent to the U.S.’s, and the U.S. had to recognize the Soviet Union’s equality.

Thus, when any issues, situations, or conditions are presented that show how Russia is still equal to the U.S., and that we matter to them, they are used to the fullest. The fact that Obama won’t go to Vladivostok, and Putin [won’t go] to Camp David, has no bearing on politics and was discussed a long time ago. Americans were very surprised when this fact became big news in Russia.

These things, in my opinion, simply allow somebody in Russia to feel equal to America, but in reality it is just a case of self-delusion. Another part of this problem is that Russian-American relations were once the basis for political careers in Russia and in America. Today in America, you can’t build a career on Russia, no matter how you feel about it. There are, of course, a lot of enemies of Russia, especially among older generations of the American elite, but a career based on this can no longer be done.

In Russia, if you want to be a successful politician, you have to (like it or not) endorse anti-Americanism. Somehow, a positive word “patriot” in Russia became a synonym of “anti-Americanism.” If you are a patriot, you have to be against the West.

It devalues the meaning of patriotism, because you have to be against something in order to be for Russia. This is wrong. You won’t make a career or create an image by advocating for Russian-American friendship. On the contrary, you will be accused of selling out your motherland, or being paid by the State Department, etc.

Therefore, any young politician or public figure, in order to advance his political career, almost has to go against America to gain a certain political image, public relations, and public support. This is completely wrong, because such problems don’t exist anymore. Of course, there are some disagreements between Russia and the U.S., but who doesn’t have them? I once dealt with this issue and found that there are more disagreements between Paris and Washington than between Moscow and Washington. Nevertheless, nobody sees France and the U.S. as enemies; they are strategic allies.

The main problem with Russian-American relations is that they are empty in regard to the economy. They don’t resemble American-Chinese relations, where the main focus is a huge multi-billion dollar business, where people and national companies earn money, and where political issues (e.g., human rights, democracy, and elections) are important, but secondary.

They are secondary because big corporations, mutual investments, and huge amounts of jobs became a main part of these relations. So as soon as there is a political problem, businessmen quickly explain to their government which issues are most important and which issues are not. There is not such a thing in Russian-American relations; therefore, any political issue, disagreement, or conflict leads to a cooling of relations.