Not Against But With Russia

By avoiding the G-8 summit at Camp David and the NATO summit in Chicago, Russia’s President Vladmir Putin has led some to believe that Russia is giving the West the cold shoulder. However, I believe that Putin wants to keep an open door to rebuilding relations with the West.

On April 13, former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, one of the U.S.’s most prominent chief strategists, wanted to set a goal to eliminate all nuclear weapons and keep countries with nuclear weapons from acquiring more. At that time, they advised the Western alliance to continue building up a ballistic missile system without Russia’s cooperation.

These long-running conversations have yielded significant progress; however, disagreements remain. Should the West still strive for Russia’s cooperation? Would it not be more reasonable to give talks with Russia more priority rather than making biased decisions? Schmidt and Nunn are right, if they are warning of a new arms race and the return of a new confrontation. But why rush to action? Not long ago, President Obama said to his Russian colleague Medvedev that he could be more flexible after the election. Who rushed these overhasty hostile decisions in Chicago? What is the use of running when you are on the wrong road?

NATO is a political confederation with powerful influence. Let’s not forget how the 1967 Harmel Report paved the way to the policy of détente for the purpose of security defense capabilities. NATO established arms controls and disarmament as integral parts of its safety policy. Together with the East German treaties, détente opened the door to the Helsinki Accords and to drastic changes in Europe’s situation, so much so that a man like Gorbachev, the General Secretary of the Communist Party, was able to implement his innovative policies.

Today, America, Europe and Russia define their common interests, sharing more than some defense bureaucrats in Brussels and Washington acknowledge. There are significant problems that can only be solved with Russia’s help: halting the proliferation of nuclear weapons in other countries; preventing a war in the Near and Middle East; finding an impartial and peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict…

Another important issue is the withdrawal date from Afghanistan, which dominated much of the discussion in Chicago. But in view of the many other security challenges, sound relations with our neighbor in the East is of utmost importance. In such a situation, statesmanship is desired. This means taking measures that open up new opportunities for cooperation between the East and the West instead of accepting a dangerous new confrontation. It’s about using the new flexibility that Obama promised after his re-election. And it’s about Europe honoring the major promise in the charter from 1990. The greatest problems of our time should only be solved by working with Russia and certainly not against Russia.