New Year's Pie

“While we will have moments of competition and rivalry, as well as cooperation and partnership, in the years ahead, the one thing we will not have is the luxury of ignoring one another.... Much of the history of the 21st century is going to depend on how well and how responsibly the two of us pursue a very complicated agenda.”

– William J. Burns, U.S. Ambassador to Russia

In the final days before this issue was being put to press, a couple of seemingly unrelated things happened. First, former Vice President Al Gore was awarded a share in the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to halt global warming. Second, in Moscow, the first “Two Plus Two” talks between U.S. and Russian secretaries/ministers of defense and foreign affairs took place... and ended in failure. 

The intent of Two Plus Two is for the sides to hammer out differences over security issues between the two nations. Well, apparently there was a lot of hammering, but not much in the way of results. The U.S. delegation could not be brought around to see that Russia perceived the installation of anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems on Russia’s borders as a threat. The Russian hosts could not be convinced that the ABM systems had nothing to do with Russia – they were to offer NATO protection from “rogue states.”

It is interesting to consider: if Al Gore had won the 2000 election, it’s highly unlikely he would have won the 2007 Peace Prize, as he would have had his hands too full with Affairs of State (assuming he was reelected in 2004) to be dabbling about with Power Point presentations. But, then again, he might have used his Bully Pulpit to do even more to fight global warming.

It is also a pretty good bet the ABM Treaty would still be in force. The treaty fell in the Bush Administration’s sights early in 2001 (during a summer of increasingly anti-Russian rhetoric, before Bush famously looked into Putin’s soul). On December 13, 2001, the U.S. gave its official six months notice it was withdrawing from the ABM Treaty. In the absence of such a treaty, the U.S. and NATO have moved forward on the afore-mentioned plan to place missile defense systems in Poland the Czech Republic. Meanwhile, Russia has seen fit to invest in ABM-killing systems.

In Boston in September, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of U.S.-Russian diplomatic ties, William Burns, the eloquent U.S. Ambassador to Russia gave an excellent speech on the state of our countries’ bilateral relations (see our website for a link), from which the quotes at the top of this page were drawn. The sentiment was clear: the Cold War is over, but the U.S. and Russia’s relationship will still have great significance for the fate of the world. Burns then offered a mind-numbing list of “areas in which we can do more together.” 

What a missed opportunity. 

I realize clarity and concise language can be anathema to politicians and diplomats, yet I still could not help wishing the 200th anniversary of U.S.-Russian relations (if those relations are so important) would be used as a pretext for a bold, inspiring and simply-worded bilateral collaboration. 

For instance: “The U.S. and Russia announce today, that our two nations will join our nations’ resources together in a 50-year program, by the end of which we will have reversed the tide of global warming, eliminated offensive nuclear weapons and eradicated the scourges of AIDs.”

Pie in the sky? Of course. But it sure would make ABM treaties and Peace Prizes seem penny ante. 

Happy New Year and enjoy the issue.