Obama & Biden playing good cop, bad cop?
Published: 25 July, 2009, 22:33
TAGS: Russia, Interview, Obama, Politics, USA
Moscow says it’s hard to figure out who is in charge of US foreign policy – President Obama or his advisors – following critical comments against Russia by Vice President Joe Biden.
The Kremlin said it is puzzled by Biden’s strong criticism so shortly after the two countries agreed to reset relations in March and signed crucial agreements during Barack Obama’s visit to Russia two weeks ago. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal after his visit to Ukraine and Georgia, Biden says Russia faces tough economic problems and has a weakened internal policy.
“I think Biden is rhetorically balancing the openings that Obama made in Moscow to the Russian leadership,” said Mikhail Troitsky of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.
Troitsky added that what the US president told the audience in his highly publicized speech in the Russian New Economic School was amazing, as was showing how respectful he was toward Russia.
“Obama mentioned, for example, one thing that struck me,” Troitsky said. “He said that the hardships the Russian people had to survive through the time of economic reform were not in vain.”
Troitsky noted that Obama’s words contradict those of the many Western leaders who have said recently that Russia is becoming more authoritarian and that democracy is shrinking.
“The vice pesident is showing that if Russia is going to cooperate with the US, ’s not going to be because of the charm offensive, not because Russia is being convinced, but because it’s in Russia’s own interests,” the analyst said.
25.07.2009, 14:30
16 comments
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26.07.2009, 19:30
6 comments
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@ MEJanssen. I'm glad you're American, perhaps you can enlighten me. America has just agreed to pay triple the amount they used to pay for the Manas airbase in Kyrgyzstan, around $60 Million per annum. They are now negotiating a military base in Colombia for millions of dollars per annum as well, for no good reason. If money is such a problem, why are they spending so much money on other people's countries but won't spend on their own people? Better yet, why are the American people not protesting?
@ lolo, I think the problem with the healthcare plan is the money. Money already paid by big insurance company lobbyists to buy Congress. Money already spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. And now all that money paid to those "too big to fail" banks to bail them out. Our debt level is so high that even the Democrats are getting afraid, and those "blue dog" or conservative Democrats are balking at paying for another trillion dollar program. If we had the lower debt level of 10 years ago, Obama's plan would have had easier sailing through Congress this year. As for Biden, I still don't know if Obama considers him an asset or a penance.
@ lolo - To answer your last question first, it has been a long time since the Federal Government has been answerable to the US people. Most citizens are under a spell and don't know what is going on. There are a few malcontents who want to know what is happening and refuse to be distracted by TV shows about singing, dancing, or playing games on desert islands. The malcontents are generally ignored by the TV media, which is where most of us get what passes for "news". That news is full of car chases and which celebrity got pregnant this month, never mind what US mercenaries are doing in the Caucasus or South America. On the positive side, more people are saying they get their news from the internet, but I suspect they are still a small minority. As for spending money on our own citizens, sorry, no-can-do. That could interfere with our (expensive) efforts to enforce "Pax Americana". Also, we have a nice self-image of "rugged individualism" which means, among other things, that any individual who gets government money is somehow stealing from everybody else, and any government program that helps individuals smells like socialism (which is just one step away from communism which is the end of civilization as we know it). However, just because we don't like the idea of government programs, does not mean we don't have any. We have lots, and some of the money collected does actually trickle down to some individuals. Just not very much. This is only my simplistic and idiosyncratic way of looking at my culture from the inside, so feel free to add your own observations.