You Reap What You Sow

On Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama was able to address the Russian population from the same location where President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin previously spoke to the citizens of Russia.

The second day of Obama’s visit to Russia, and including the first, proved that Russian-American relations are really starting to improve. The voices of the American visitors seem to no longer have a mentoring tone nor the desire to talk down to their Russian colleagues.

 

The tenant of the White house was late to the Gostinny Dvor by only an hour. However, very few people paid attention to that. The preface to his speech appeared to be very memorable. Up until yesterday, any knowledge of the NES, Russia’s New Economic School, was limited to small business circles. But on Tuesday, practically the whole world found out about the NES and Barack Obama took on the role as its head PR manager. However, it would be wrong to say that the help of the U.S. president was totally gratis. In exchange for free advertising, Obama was given a unique platform to explain to every Russian citizen, and not just the 1,500 visitors who were present at the Gostinny Dvor for the sixteenth NES graduation ceremony, what it is that he is willing to do to “reset” Russian-American relations and his real feelings towards Russia.

 

Half an hour before the start of this occasion, security was given an order to not allow anyone in or out. Gostinny Dvor was turned into a fortress. The ceremony itself could be divided into two parts: the introduction, which proved that some of Russia’s economists have a good sense of humor, and the speech from the U.S. president.

It was clear that earlier that afternoon, the negotiations with President Dmitry Medvedev had a similar tone. In other words, Obama gave Russia and the rest of the world his highest attention when the time for Russian-American talks came up.

 

“During the time of a financial crisis, the work becomes more interesting, especially for economists. Right there on the street, it is possible to see which models are working well and which aren’t,” declared NES Board of Directors Chairman Maxim Boiko in his opening address before Obama’s arrival. Agreeing with the opening address, Arkady Dvorkovich, presidential aide and the NES Alumni Association president added: “It is very exciting to be an economist today. It is hard to understand the current economy, but you pretend that you do. You are asked questions, answers to which are still unknown.”  The rector of NES, Sergey Guriev, also decided to make a joke: “In general, we are living in the strangest time: top-managers voluntarily refuse bonuses, Moscow real estate prices are dropping and Gostinny Dvor is holding a graduation ceremony.”

 

A few minutes later, Barack Obama finally appeared in the large glass-covered hall. The U.S. president fulfilled the planned obligation, the formal reason for his presence at the ceremony, to award the graduation diploma to the best student of the 2009 NES class, Oxanna Sytnevaya. After that, he approached the tribune and the smile gradually disappeared from his face.

 

The U.S. president began to speak about extremely serious issues. He believes that Russians and Americans have a large potential for economic cooperation and for the creation of a new configuration of security in Europe and the world.

 

Obama, certainly, could not ignore the problem of anti-missile defense. The U.S. president stated that once the threat is no longer there, then there is no need for an anti-missile defense act. However, Moscow suspects that the American anti-missile defense in Europe can be used against Russian strategic forces. In Washington, these concerns continue to be viewed as unreasonable. Obama emphasized that the anti-missile defense will be created only to prevent attacks from the direction of Iran or North Korea. He also stated that neither America nor Russia can benefit from the nuclear arms race in Asia and the Middle East: “That’s why we should be united in opposing North Korea’s efforts to become a nuclear power, and opposing Iran’s efforts to acquire a nuclear weapon.”

 

Obama reported that he and President Medvedev agreed to make sure that the other countries fulfill their obligations to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: “Rules must be binding, violations must be punished.”

NATO, according to Obama, should co-operate with Russia. Entering the alliance should be only for those countries whose majority population agrees with that step. Russia and the U.S. need to reject old hurdles and doubts. “To begin with, let me be clear: America wants a strong, peaceful, and prosperous Russia … Despite our past rivalry, our people were allies in the greatest struggle of the last century.”

What was said by Obama supported the position taken by Moscow in August of last year after Saakashvili’s regime attack on South Ossetia. There are no doubts that Russia will be comfortable at the G8 summit opening today in Italy. Though, just several months ago, our ill-wishers were predicting the G8 returning to the G7.  From now on, unequivocally stated by Obama in Moscow, Russia and the U.S. will answer the questions together.