Can Obama outwit Putin indeed?

In a recent interview with CNN, U.S. President Barack Obama refused to acknowledge that the Russian President Vladimir Putin outwitted him. "I'm not being "rolled" by Putin, look at the rouble", Obama said. President of the American University in Moscow Eduard Lozanskiy agreed to comment the Obama's statement in an interview to Pravda.Ru.

"I believe it is irresponsible and foolish to speculate who outwitted whom in the world where there are lots of problems, where cooperation between Russia and USA is needed so much, and to stoop to the level of such cheap statements... We need to talk not about the fact who outwitted whom but what each of presidents has done to increase stability, security and economic development throughout the world. That is where we need to compete," Eduard Lozanskiy said.

A Pravda.Ru correspondent asked the expert if it was a valid question and why Putin did not ask that very question?

"In this regard, Putin has a more respectable position, since in all his speeches and statements, even criticizing America for some of its illegal actions, he nevertheless reached out to solve and overcome various problems. He never refuses a possibility of cooperation with America. And there are no offers made by the U.S. Now there is a perfect moment to be a wise leader to resolve conflict in Ukraine, since there is a truce there now, though a fragile one. And this moment needs to be used for a more profound process. To stop all military actions completely and begin reconstruction and recovery of Ukraine after a horrendous civil war. But Barack Obama signs an act that allows him to supply arms. Instead of offering Russia to sit down for the talks and discuss ways to overcome this crisis as fast as possible," Eduard Lozanskiy concluded.

Obama should stop acting like a boy in a sandbox

The expert also pointed out that the president of a great country should stop pretending to be a macho and talk about who outwitted whom. Because one must not be credited for destroying economy of another country and suffering of another nation. According to Lozanskiy, we need to focus on resolving common problems, and not on damaging our partners.

The Pravda.Ru correspondent asked the expert what the current public sentiment was in America?

"Since the US economy functions rather smoothly, around half of Americans think that internal policy is correct. As for the foreign policy, only a third of Americans support their president. As for the Congress that pushed for such an absurd and dangerous act, it is supported by only 8% of Americans. These are the results we have now," Eduard Lozanskiy summarized.

President of the Institute of Strategic Studies and Analysis (ISSA), professor of Faculty of Politics at the Higher School of Economics, MGIMO's professor Aleksandr Konovalov agreed to comment Obama's statement in an interview to Pravda.Ru.

"Of course, President Obama managed to complicate our life by his sanctions. However, it is absolutely wrong to consider something that was made as part of the Russian-American relations as a victory of the American president in some game, and it is difficult to say what long-term consequences of such policy will be. But Americans have failed and will fail to isolate Russia as planned," Aleksandr Konovalov said.

The Pravda.Ru correspondent asked the expert why Putin didn't think in such terms of the game as Obama?

"Because it is wrong to build a policy on negative motivations. This situation must not be considered a game one. Because after all a policy must be founded on positive goals and tasks, it is not a constructive way for the economy of Russia," Aleksandr Konovalov summarized.

Putin's recent press conference puzzled the West

Meanwhile, analyzing Vladimir Putin's recent press conference, Western media note that the Russian president tried to convey his confidence to the society that "everything is going to be fine". Political analyst Igor Shatrov commented publications of foreign media exclusively for Pravda.Ru.

"The main message was closer to what the West is talking about. In other words, he showed that despite economic problems there is political stability in the country, so, guys, don't worry. There won't be any revolutions, moreover, palace coup d'etat for you," the expert said.

The expert was surprised by the question, why the West was puzzled with the fact that Putin did not lay blame for the situation with the rouble on himself, but answered that he understood the hint made by the western media. "These actions are the consequence of our stance on Ukraine, but our stance on Ukraine was and remains to be the right one. This peace in Ukraine is in Russia's interests. Why should we lay blame for these processes on ourselves?" Igor Shatrov wondered.

"It is the consequence of an external aggression that comes in various areas - economy, global financial world, etc. We depend on each other and if we somehow redistribute the flows it will cause instability in other states which is happening right now," the political analyst told Pravda.Ru.

Igor Shatrov briefly commented the Businessinsider's publication saying that Putin is not afraid of making forecasts as to easing of the situation, that he refuses to call the rouble's collapse a crisis, as well as comparing Russia's invasion in Crimea to annexation of Texas from Mexico and mentioning a metaphor of a bear that the West wants to make a stuffed animal of: "they are judging by themselves".

"They do not understand specifics of the Russian mentality, they do not understand the Russian humor. We have quite substantial distinctive features, hence very often the West does not understand us. Not because they are stupid, in the words of Zadornov, they are just different. That's why they are absolutely unable to understand these things," the expert believes.

According to him, all these processes were aimed at a palace coup d'etat, rather than a revolution in Russia, which possibly even the most naive of the European politicians do not believe in now. "It was stated for a reason at the press conference. Putin made it clear that there was a consensus among the elite, and that those people suffering very much even now as a result of sanctions were not willing to betray interests of the country and Putin as a leader, elected by all people, for their own personal reasons," Igor Shatrov said.

"This is the evidence of the difference in our mentality and the western one, when the common interest prevails a personal one. It is very weird for western politicians and businesspersons, but it prevails even for large Russian businesspersons who seemed to have completely sold out and become collaborators, integrated in the global system. When this happened, they rallied around the nation's leader; everything happening in 2014 is very indicative," the expert noted.

To the question what he liked most in Putin's speech, he answered that the love theme was a big surprise.

"It is wonderful, I liked it very much, it was a very vivid speech, and it showed that nothing human is alien to the president. It added the necessary human aspect to the conference that in fact was very complicated," Igor Shatrov concluded.

Pravda.Ru

Translation provided by TNC Freelancer Group

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Author`s name Dmitry Sudakov
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