Does Russia Matter?

After September’s Camp David summit between Vladimir Putin and George Bush, TV journalist Ray Suarez, on The PBS Newshour, asked his guests a question being posed with increasing regularity: “Does Russia matter?”

The guest’s all too obvious reply was, essentially, “Yes, of course Russia matters, but just not like it used to and only on a certain range of issues [e.g. nuclear proliferation, combatting terror].”

I hate obvious answers. They’re so ... obvious.

The truth is, Russia has never mattered to US policymakers. What has mattered has been “what damage Russia could do to us” or “what détente or friendship with Russia can get us.” Realpolitik is object-oriented. Other states (objects) matter only insofar as they either threaten or ensure our security. So, since today (versus 20 years ago), Russia threatens us less, it matters less.

Here’s a radical concept: it’s not about us. Russia (or India or Mongolia) matters because of the positive contributions it has made and can make to human development, rather than because of its ability to make war.

For example:

1. Russia occupies more land on planet Earth than any other single country. Put another way, Russians have about three times more land per capita than Americans (including Alaskans and Texans). Therefore, what Russia choses to do with that land (say, conservation vs. deforestation) matters for the whole world.

2. It is said that, in this century, fresh water will become humankind’s most important resource.  Best estimates are that Russia owns about 25% of the world’s fresh water, and it is already exporting it to countries that do not have enough. “When the oil runs out,” one Russian government official said, “we will export water.”

3. Russia is a scientific powerhouse, as demonstrated again this fall when a Russian and a Russian-American shared the Nobel Prize in physics with an American, for inventing a little thing they called super-conductivity. Among other things, we owe a debt to Russian scientists for television, helicopters and the Periodic Table (ok, maybe just the last two).

4. Russian culture has had a powerful impact on the world, especially the US. “Oh, you could say that about any country,” you say. OK, then, try this test on a friend: “Name three Russian authors.” Then ask: “Name three Chinese (or Indian, or German, or Iraqi) authors.” If literature is not enough, try to imagine the Fourth of July without Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture.

I could go on and on (in fact, I do, visit our website www.russianlife.net for more examples and more detail). But the point is I mentioned several important reasons why Russia matters to the world and I didn’t blurt out something like “12,000 nuclear weapons” (except just right there). Nor did I mention that Russia currently supplies America with 4% of its oil (until now).

Russia matters a great deal.

Next question.

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When we couldn’t decide what to do about the cover for this issue of the magazine, we decided, in honor of the upcoming Duma elections, to let readers pick. The vote was held via our website during the first two weeks of October.  Nearly 400 readers voted, and the resounding winner (62% to 38%) was the image you see on the cover. The “losing” image is reproduced on page 1.

If you do not like the way the vote came out, we are truly sorry. But you are just going to have to let the cover image serve out its two-month term. We do not have any provisions for a recall.

Enjoy the issue.