It has been exactly a year since the election of the 44th US President on November 4, 2008. What did the number “4” mean for the world, Russia, the USA, and Barack Obama himself?
Perhaps, Obama has done more for the world than the US. The current President is more popular in many other countries rather than in the USA.
It can be said that Obama has chosen a role of a pop-idol in politics. It is not easy to throw stones at him. He has not made any foreign policy issues more rigorous, has not gotten into a fight with anyone, smiled a lot, and let everyone meet his wife Michele.
He even managed to please Cuba and Russia. He delegated all tasks that require unpopular measures to his assistants, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton.
This makes the resemblance of Barack Obama and Mikhail Gorbachev almost mystical. Now, let’s consider the details.
Moscow is charmed and disarmed
What is your most painful issue? As if Obama asked Russia before his visit to Moscow in July, 2009. The answer was: of course, your disgusting, horrible missile defense system that you are planning to build in Poland and Czech Republic.
No problem, Obama said, and put away the main scarecrow, the missile defense system, away from Russia’s eyes. He did not ask anything in return. It usually happens when someone wants to fully convert a potential enemy, not just receive a concession. Why not?
The Russian government understands very well that competition with the USA is no longer realistic. Russia is not the USSR. The current Russian economy is only 1/25th the size of the American economy. However, Russia still wants to maintain the image of a great power.
Therefore, it is much more beneficial for Moscow to be the USA’s ally without showing it directly. De jure, Russia is a new potential center of the multi-polar world opposing Washington. De facto, Russia is an ally of the US, apart from small painful splinters like Kosovo, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and such. Obama easily endowed Moscow with this status.
In July 2009, Obama came to Moscow for a visit.
After Obama’s visit, Russia stands ready for many things. This includes support of Iran sanctions, suspension of locating the ballistic missile system Iskander near Kaliningrad, and letting American planes fly to Afghanistan over Russia (along the same route where Gary Powers, an American spy, was hit by Soviet missiles in 1960). Of course, the United States did not back off from their interests one bit, as Vice President Biden traveled to Georgia to calm down Saakashvili.
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