MOSCOW : President Barack Obama, working to warm U.S. relations with Russia, met for the first time Tuesday with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and told college students that the two countries are not “destined to be antagonists.”
“The pursuit of power is no longer a zero-sum game,” Obama said, speaking in the Russian capital to graduates of the New Economic School but also hoping to reach the whole nation. “Progress must be shared.”
Obama used his speech to further define his view of the United States’ place in the world and, specifically, to argue that his country shares compelling interests with Russia.
“Let me be clear: America wants a strong, peaceful and prosperous Russia,” he declared in his speech, not long after holding talks with Putin. The prime minister said: “With you, we link our hopes for the furtherance of relations between our two countries.”
Obama’s upbeat comments to students at the New Economic School came on the second day of his summit in Russia, where polls show people are wary of the United States and taking a skeptical measure of Obama himself. Putin hosted Obama for talks at his home outside Moscow, where the atmosphere seemed cordial.
In his speech, Obama said the interests of Russia and the United States generally coincide in five key areas: halting the spread of nuclear weapons, confronting violent extremists, ensuring economic prosperity, advancing the rights of people and fostering cooperation without jeopardizing sovereignty.
On Georgia and Ukraine two nations that have sought NATO membership to the chagrin of neighboring Russia Obama tried a diplomatic touch. He defended the steps nations must take to join the alliance, adding, “NATO seeks collaboration with Russia, not confrontation.”
The U.S. and Russia have plenty of significant differences, but Obama suggested one of the biggest problems is fixable: deeply rooted and harmful assumptions from another era.
“There is the 20th century view that the United States and Russia are destined to be antagonists, and that a strong Russia or a strong America can only assert themselves in opposition to one another,” Obama said. He dismissed that as inaccurate.
The challenge is more daunting in this country, where Obama is viewed with much greater skepticism than elsewhere and where the Russian people are wary of U.S. power.
Obama hoped to change minds with a speech that White House aides had billed in advance as a pillar of his foreign policy on the same level with his call for a nuclear-free world while in Prague, or his outreach to the Muslim world in a speech in Cairo.
The matter of democracy is closely watched because the U.S. has watched warily as Russia’s control on dissent and the press has only stiffened in recent years. The country is considered one of the most dangerous places for investigative journalists to work.
Obama referred to Putin as “President Putin” in an interview with NBC, and then said, “I don’t think it’s Freudian. He used to be presidenthttp://www.newsabahtimes.com.my/nstweb/fullstory/30206
