Toward an Alternative Russia Approach

Abstract

This book has sought to document the role of the Lobby in American foreign policy. Influential groups favoring the U.S. military hegemony, the triumph of American-style democracy, and Eastern European nationalism have taken advantage of the policy vacuum in Washington after 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq to promote a tough stand against Russia. Having mobilized the media and various policy channels, the Lobby has presented Russia as a country with a well-consolidated and increasingly dangerous regime, and it has succeeded in persuading leading members of the American political class to advocate the Russia-threat approach. Some influential politicians and policy makers in the White House have been sympathetic to the Lobby’s agenda and prone to the use of Russophobic rhetoric. Although the U.S. Russia policy did not embrace Cold War-style containment, the Lobby has contributed to the shift away from the post-9/11 partnership.

Does the United States have sufficient confidence in its own strength and optimism about its future to engage in a constructive dialogue with Russia, or do the doubts growing from a less than successful foreign policy and injured pride lead it to see Russia as a source of its problems rather than as a potential partner?

(Thomas Graham, Russia in Global Affairs, July–September 2007)