Reset initiative author says the policy benefits Russia, U.S. and the world
The ‘reset relations’ between Russia and the United States is working, U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden, the author of the ‘computer term’ that is now rapidly gaining popularity in its new coinage usage in geopolitics among world leaders, unequivocally said in a keynote speech at the Lomonosov Moscow State University. The speech in Russia’s prima educational institution was a part of the official events marking the second year anniversary of resetting the bilateral ties between Moscow and Washington that hit their lowest ebb in the dying days of President George Bush’s administration.
Citing new statistical data highlighting ‘the palpable thaw’ in Russian-U.S. relations, Biden said the reduction in political tension has led to dramatic softening of Russian and U.S. citizens’ attitudes toward each other. This, he added, is evident in the fact that today the number of Russians that now have a positive view of the United States has grown from 17% in December 2008, a month before the then-president-elect, Barack Obama, took office in January 2009, to over 60% in 2011. Similarly, in 2008, most U.S. citizens named Russia among the top five countries posing tangible threats to their country and its strategic interests on the global arena, while this year, only 2% of U.S. citizens currently think of Russia as a potential threat. “This positive trend shows that the ‘reset’ in relationships is working for all of us, for the United States, for Russia and, I would, presumptuously say, it is also working for the whole world.”
However, the vice president, who said he had brought his granddaughter on the two-day trip ‘to see this great nation with her own eyes,’ noted in the speech that spanned all facets of the bilateral and multilateral ties between Moscow and Washington that more work still needs to be done to strengthen the ongoing negotiations on key bilateral cooperation issues in such highly sensitive areas as defense, national and global security as well as other vital strategic policies of both bilateral and multilateral relevance to reach the much desired ‘diplomatic nirvana’ between the United States and Russia
Indeed, Biden used lots of superlative adjectives to qualify Russia and its people during the speech and other official events on visit’s agenda, as he repeatedly called them ‘a nation of great creativity, great culture and great computer science, mathematics and engineering, etc.’ Notably, addressing the Russian leadership, he said he had the same feeling of sitting in the same room with some of the world’s most powerful leaders when he first met top Soviet leaders about 30 years ago, as he did during the meeting with the current Russian leadership tandem of Dmitry Medvedev, the president, and his powerful prime minster, Vladimir Putin.
“The current positive trend in our relations shows that the ‘reset policy’ is working for all of us – for the United States, for Russia and, I would, presumptuously say, for the whole world.”
This gesture, according to political experts, was partly aimed at smoothening the negative impact of the interview the vice president gave to The Wall Street Journal in 2009, where he said Russia because of its mounting economic problems and rapidly declining demographic statistics “is comparatively weak,” and consequently, “does not qualify as an equal negotiations partner with the United States in particular, and the West in general.”
Launching the next stage in the reset relations
Biden’s visit and meetings with top government and civil nongovernmental organization leaders were to mark the next stage in the reset relations that both Moscow and Washington say will now be focused more on boosting trade and other aspects of economic cooperation between the two countries. He listed a series of U.S. corporate titans, such as PepsiCo, Chevron and ExxonMobil, etc., which, thanks to the reset ties, have been able to buy huge chunks of shareholding stakes in major Russia private and public companies and/or significantly expand their business portfolios in the country in the past two years. As a concrete example of this positive trend, he cited his presiding over the final signing of a record breaking $2bln purchase of Boeing 777 planes by Russia’s largest airline Aeroflot, calling it a clear illustration of the mutual benefits that have arisen from the thaw that resulted from the reset bilateral relations.
However, he specifically noted that the fact that the economic component of the reset bilateral ties currently seriously lags behind the more robust political aspect that has seen huge and unprecedented successes in such key strategic policies such as the ratification of the new historic START agreement and landmark cooperation accords on Afghanistan, joint UN-backed sanctions against Iran and putting a united common front against the erratic North Korea’s increasingly unpredictable behavior on the regional arena.
Standing conspicuously in its low profile against these post-reset relationships’ robust political gains is the dismal economic cooperation, evident in the paltry sum of just $23.5bln in bilateral trade turnover between the two countries in 2010, a figure accounting for just 3.8% of Russia's total foreign trade volume in 2010, or equivalent to the sum daily trade between the United States and its North American neighboring states of Canada and Mexico. “Our trade and investment volume is not where it should be. “We got to do better. And I believe we can, because trade between our two countries is just as beneficial to the United States as it is to Russia.”
One of the ways of boosting the economic component of the reset ties via traveling and related activities between the United States and Russia was offered by Putin as he called on Biden to consider a ‘free-visa traveling regime’ between the two countries, noting that the move will eradicate all the old stereotypes in the countries’ bilateral relations. The proposal, which was later endorsed by Medvedev, will, according to Putin, be a boon for tourism, business and other related economic activities and social interactions, as well as historic in the chronology of their bilateral ties. “This will be more so, if an agreement is reached on this policy before the reluctant European Union will finally agree to revoke visa-free travel requirements with Russia,” he said. “By such move, we shall finally turn a very important page in our past and start all over again, and this will create an absolutely new moral atmosphere between our countries.”
While Biden made no concrete commitment on the free-visa regime proposal, calling it simply a ‘good idea,’ he was, however, very vocal on the U.S. intention to see Russia finally gaining its long-sought, but elusive membership of the WTO. “Let me make this as clear as I possibly can: President Obama and I strongly support and want to see Russia in WTO. For one thing, it would give U.S. companies a much more predictable access to Russia's growing market. Besides, the WTO membership will be a boon for Russia to increase foreign investment via fighting corruption.
Russia’s current corporate and legal climate detrimental to businesses
Citing cases of ‘fortunes lost in Russia because of legal abuse and legal nihilism, quoting President Medvedev, Biden derided Russia’s current corporate and legal climate as ‘as a non-business-friendly environment’ that needs radical improvement if the government really wants to attract foreign investments into its economy. As examples of overtly evident lapses in Russia’s legal and justice systems, he cited such high-profile controversial litigation cases as the imprisonment of ex-Yukos founder and CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the questionable detention, and later suspicious death, of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer with Hermitage Capital Management, who had accused law-enforcement officials of corruption.
“Right now, this negative situation for many foreign companies, including U.S. firms, presents a fundamental obstacle to doing business in Russia,” he noted. “No amount of government cheerleading, PR programs, U.S. support or rebranding will bring wronged or nervous investors back to a market they perceive to have these shortcomings. Only bold and genuine change can do this.” And, citing the Kremlin’s key signature policy of modernization expected to transform Russia into a thriving international financial hub, Biden noted that success of such economic modernization is inherently linked to political modernization. “This is because economic modernization and political modernization go hand-in-hand. It is impossible to achieve one without the other.”
Free press and viable political opposition essential to democracy
Speaking on civil society, free elections and other tenets of democracy, Biden noted that a truly free and independent press, free nongovernment organizations and viable opposition political parties are vital ingredients for building a thriving modern civil society with a functioning free-market economy. “Polls show that most Russians want to choose their national and local leaders in competitive elections. They want to be able to assemble freely, want meetings that are independent of the state and want to live in a country that fights corruption. All these are features of democracy."
“Let me make this as clear as I possibly can: President Obama and I strongly want to see Russia in WTO. For one thing, it would give U.S. companies a much more predictable access to Russia's growing market.”
On the recalcitrant issue Russia’s perennial request for a repeal of the so-called Jackson-Vanik amendment, passed in 1974 to deny ‘most favored nation trade status’ to the Soviet Union as a way to pressure the communist government to allow more Jewish emigration, which has passed down as an inheritance to post-Soviet Russia as the heir of the defunct soviet state, the vice president said the Obama administration would press hard in Congress to honor the request.
However, success, he noted, is not a ‘done deal,’ as the approval is conditional on Russia meeting certain conditions, including embarking on much stricter enforcement of intellectual-property laws, revoking the current barriers to the importation of certain U.S. products, a more rigorous pursuance of democratic and human-rights reforms, etc. It is unclear whether or not Russia is ready to compromise on its standing policies in these issues, making the fate of the amendment repeal as hazy as ever.
One of the best exits out of this stalemated position could be via a suggestion offered by Vladimir Ryzhkov, one of Russia’s opposition leaders, who has called on Washington to replace the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which is punishing the whole nation for crimes committed by the now-defunct Soviet empire, with ‘personified sanctions, such as travel bans and other restrictions’ against top Russian officials implicated in anti-democratic behaviors. “If the Jackson-Vanik amendment is repealed and replaced with personified sanctions — much similar to those placed on dictators — the effect could be more palpable.”
Indeed, this idea of ‘personified sanctions’ already has an active supporter in the Congress, as U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin is currently pushing legislation that would ban visas and freeze assets of top Russian officials allegedly involved in the death of Magnitsky.
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