Romney's 'Caveman Proclamations' No Longer a Worry for 'Relieved' Kremlin (Kommersant, Russia)

"The reelection of U.S. President Barack Obama will allow many in Moscow to take a sigh of relief: the Cold War is canceled. This is, in fact, what the 2012 U.S. presidential campaign means for Moscow. Republican candidate Mitt Romney, who called Russia America's geopolitical enemy number one, is out of the running and will no longer irritate the Kremlin with his 'caveman proclamations.'"

By Sergei Strokan

Translated By Anastassia Tapsieva

November 18, 2012

Russia - Kommersant - Original Article (Russian)

Russian President Vladimir Putin: Will he be ready to trust Barack Obama during a second term and embrace a 'reset' of the 'reset'? RUSSIA TODAY, RUSSIA: War Priorities: 'U.S. spending more on military despite fiscal cliff', Nov. 9, 00:06:43

Kommersant observer Sergei Strokan on what the results of the 2012 U.S. presidential campaign mean to Moscow

The reelection of U.S. President Barack Obama will allow many in Moscow to take a sigh of relief: the Cold War is canceled. This is, in fact, what the 2012 U.S. presidential campaign means for Moscow. Republican candidate Mitt Romney, who called Russia America's geopolitical enemy number one, is out of the running and will no longer irritate the Kremlin with his "caveman proclamations." Another piece of good news is that Romney, who is now 65-years-old, will not participate in the next election.

Does Obama's victory mean that Moscow and Washington get another chance for a "reset"? The answer is obviously yes. However, given the history of bloc confrontation between the two powers, this doesn't necessarily mean that this newly-emerged opportunity will be grasped. Today, in the wake of new post-election expectations, the White House and the Kremlin need to work on some the bugs in their relationship. The two administrations need to understand why, in the final stages of Obama's presidency, the reset, which seemed such a promising foreign policy project, became an object of growing criticism and outright ridicule from the hawks in both Moscow and Washington.

Posted by Worldmeets.US

It's not possible to build with one hand and to destroy with the other. If Moscow simultaneously declares its commitment to staying on the course of strategic partnership with the U.S., while simultaneously fueling the fire of anti-Americanism - which has returned to Russia's mass media and the statements of Russian officials after a brief pause - the chance for a second iteration of the "reset" will be missed. For Moscow, that was the lesson of Obama's first presidential term. It isn't possible to build a serious partnership if one doesn't trust its partner and is always keeping its fingers crossed in its pockets.

But the Obama Administration, which gave the "reset" button to Moscow in the first place, should also not repeat its mistakes. In reality, Russia's growing irritation with the actions of the White House is far from baseless. Yet again, Moscow was not consulted about the development of Obama's plan for the creation of an anti-missile defense system in Europe, nor on the Syrian issue, nor, before all that, on the toppling of the Libyan regime - and that was after Moscow was trusting enough not to use its veto at the U.N. Security Council. One must say that despite all the politeness of his rhetoric toward Moscow, President Obama paradoxically contributed much to the anti-American sentiments being observed today.

Most importantly, Washington must understand that President Putin will never accept Moscow being forced to play the role of junior partner forced on it by the United States. True partnership during Obama's second term can only be based on equality.

And lastly, mutual accusations along the lines of "it's not me, it's you" in this stalled and permanently turbulent relationship must end. The old attitude of "you broke it, you fix it" is no longer going to work. The only way to prevent the second reset from being derailed is for all sides, when sitting around the negotiating table, to have the courage to say "we broke it, we will fix it."

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