To consider how U.S. policy toward Russia might change under President Barack Obama, we contacted Michael McFaul, a foreign policy advisor to president-elect Obama during his campaign, Professor of Political Science at Stanford University and Director of the Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law. McFaul declined to be interviewed during the transition period, instead referring us to his September 9, 2008 testimony before the US Congress, which we extract below.
Russia’s government actions in Georgia constitute just one front of a comprehensive campaign to reassert Russian dominance in the region through both coercive and cooperative instruments... This campaign of asserting Russian hegemony in the region started well before the Russian intervention in Georgia and will continue well beyond. And it is more than coincidence that the emergence of a more bellicose, anti-American, and anti-Western Russian foreign policy has occurred in parallel to the growing erosion of democracy inside Russia. Developing a sustainable, smart, and multi-dimensional strategy for addressing a resurgent and autocratic Russia has now crystallized as a central 21st century foreign policy challenge for the United States and our allies....
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