Obama in Russia

Technology and tradition, along with the remnants of tyranny, come together in U.S-Russian relations, and that has been very much in evidence in President Obama's visit to that nation. Overall, the president should receive high marks for effectiveness on this first leg of his latest Europe trip.
Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have announced a notable nuclear arms agreement plus accord to facilitate supply for Afghanistan forces. This understanding is particularly welcome given severe tensions in connection with Washington's much-debated plans to base an anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system in the Czech Republic and Poland.
The announced intention of the ABM installation is to deter and protect against rogue regimes, especially Iran, which proceed with plans to develop nuclear capabilities. However, the prospect of such very high-tech weapons on Russia's eastern borders is guaranteed to set off traditional anxieties. The bloody and brutal invasion by Nazi Germany, and consequent enormous military struggle, understandably lives as very vivid memory, passed on to younger Russians. That awful experience is particularly important in the historically rooted context of concern by Moscow to secure the border with the rest of Europe.
At the same time, arms-control agreements have been a remarkably durable dimension of U.S.-Russia relations. Ronald Reagan harshly criticized such diplomacy in his nearly successful 1976 insurgency to seize the Republican nomination from incumbent President Gerald Ford. Yet in office President Reagan in his second term pursued comprehensive arms control with the Soviet Union. At the height of the Cold War, Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy achieved demilitarization of Antarctica and the atmospheric test-ban treaty.
Obama has been criticized by some for granting an interview to Novaya Gazeta, an active Russian opposition newspaper. Early this year, two prominent young human rights advocates were gunned down on a sunlit Moscow street. The hit man clearly was a practiced pro, using a pistol equipped with a silencer.
One of the victims, Anastasia Baburova, worked for Novaya Gazeta. Anna Politkovskaya, also of that paper, was investigating human-rights abuses in Chechnya when she was murdered in 2006. In a dramatic interview with Voice of America after the latest killings, Novaya Gazeta representative Nadezhda Prosenkova stated those working at the paper literally risked their lives simply by endeavoring to do their jobs.
Obama used the Novaya Gazeta interview to praise Medvedev's public promises to increase the effectiveness of the rule of law. Some critics have noted the American leader appears to be trying to highlight differences between moderate Medvedev and hard-line Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. That is not necessarily bad, and in any case Obama deserves praise for prudence while highlighting an important moral concern.
The U.S. has very important economic leverage with Russia, which desperately needs capital investment. Its growing economic prosperity of recent years has been a direct function of relatively high oil prices, which greatly benefit that country along with other major petroleum and natural gas exporters. The Russian economy has consistently outperformed occasionally alarmist predictions of weakness and collapse. The Obama administration has a very promising, timely opportunity to tie U.S. investment and aid to human rights progress.
During the height of the Cold War, the Eisenhower administration wisely promoted artistic, scientific and wider cultural and educational exchanges with the Soviet Union, while laying the groundwork for the economic agreements which were one component of U.S.-Soviet détente. Obama should continue to indicate he's like Ike.
Arthur I. Cyr is Clausen Distinguished Professor at Carthage College. E-mail him at acyr(at)carthage.edu