September 01, 2013

Reset, Shmeeset


Reset, Shmeeset

It would be an understatement to say US-Russian relations have hit a low point. Not a Cuban Missile Crisis or even a 1980 Olympic Boycott sort of low point. More like a US bombing of Belgrade or Russian sleeper spies discovered in America sort of low point.

I could list off the many current, contentious issues. Yet as anyone who has fulfilled the venerable task of caring for small children knows, you don't stop bickering by listing their crimes and offenses. Mediation, time-outs and reset buttons are also paltry solutions.

No, the best way to stop children (or nations) from bickering is to refocus their attention on a larger, shared threat or problem.

An alien or zombie invasion would do the trick, but, thankfully, both are rather unlikely. Yet there are many larger problems we could ask our children - sorry, leaders – to focus on, so as to distract them from pesky issues like spies, leakers, homosexuals and human rights.

Therefore, be it resolved that a Bilateral Anti-Bickering Commission be established to pursue the following:

1. Mission to Mars. NASA and the Russian Space Agency have an excellent collaborative relationship and that should be broadened. Let's put our scientific A-teams together and design a multi-year project to send a Russian-American team to our sister planet by 2020.

2. Clean Nukes. While we are at it, let's assemble another team of top scientists and engineers. This one will design, develop and deploy an open-source, fourth generation nuclear plant that creates no nuclear waste and is absolutely safe. And let's do it under the aegis of a global non-profit corporation that donates all its proceeds from sales and installation of the power plants to useful, planet-sustaining endeavors like purifying water and planting forests.

3. Pick One. Let's pick one difficult global issue that truly impacts millions of average people's lives (land mines, animal poaching, human trafficking, malaria, AIDS) and set up a team to devote political, economic, public relations, and of course financial resources to really making a difference in the course of one year. Better yet, let's pick one issue per year for five years and work together to mobilize international resources and mindspace.

4. Fresh Water, Abundant Seas. Over the next 50 years fresh water is likely to become a commodity over which wars will be fought, while our oceans are in danger of becoming fish-free. Our planet's water issues are solvable, but only if they get attention now, not later. We should put a team in charge of ensuring (through the UN, international organizations, coercion of intransigent politicians, etc.) that, by 2050, world sea harvests are managed sustainably and every human on Earth has reliable access to potable drinking water.

Yes, these are some huge challenges. But why should we shrink from them, just because they are big?

To quote the great philosopher Yoda: "Do or no do, there is no try."

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Murder and the Muse
December 12, 2016

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

The Latchkey Murders
July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

A Taste of Chekhov
December 24, 2022

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

The Samovar Murders
November 01, 2019

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

Fish
February 01, 2010

Fish

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

About Us

Russian Life is the 31-year-old publication of an award-winning publishing house that also creates books, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955