On May 20th I attended the Center on the United States and Europe 5th Annual Conference hosted by the Brookings Institute, the largest political think tank in Washington, DC. Topics being discussed all dealt with current world events. Among them was the question “What does Russia Want Special guests included Strobe Talbot, the 12th United States Deputy Secretary General of State, principal Time correspondent on Soviet-American Relations during the 1980s, and now the President of the Brookings Institute; Jan Peterson, former Norwegian Foreign Minister, and Hans-Ulrich Klose, the past Mayor of Hamburg now serving in the German Parliament. The Russian Government Spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, did not attend. According to a member of the German Consulate, he had never planned on coming in the first place because of transitional period in the Russian government.

The panel Chair, Steven Pifer from the Brookings Institute, outlined four wishes of the Russian Government. First, that it may implement political and economic policies without interference of other countries. Next, he said, Russia wants to have an input on world issues. Third, it desires a better working relationship with Europe and the United States. And last, to expand Russian business to Western markets. Talbot added that what Russia does not want is autarky and a return of the Cold War.

Steven Pifer said that for some reason much of Russian’s political decisions are based on feelings and not facts. He feels that while the United States has put the Cold War behind and is prepared to work with the former Soviet Union as a new government, Russia is insecure and harbors resentment towards the rest of the world. An example of this is the United States defense Missile system to be built in the Chech Republic and Poland which Russia has rebuked, demonstrating that it still views the West as an enemy. According to Peterson, the problem is that “Russians have never confronted their history. They have never asked why they have problems with other countries.”

Russia is a large country riddled with problems and in dire need of internal reforms. Peterson pointed to high inflation, a worrisome heath system, censored press, heavy corruption and crumbling infrastructure. Klose said that Russia is on the verge of decline because of its rapidly shrinking population and the fact that the country is virtually running on its natural resources.

Panelists agreed that the best policy is to work with Russia. Even though Russia faces a challenging future, there is a growing European dependence on Russia’s energy supply, which makes a case for the West wanting Russia to be on their side. But more, Europe and the US want to help foster democracy and technological development.
“We want to get the Russians out of the corner instead of cornering them,” summarized Klose.

The next item raised was why democracy is not successful in Russia. A poll conducted in 2005 showed that 66% are for a strong leader rather than a democratic one. Klose explained that Russians associate democracy with Boris Yeltsin’s presidency, marked by corruption and a deep economic and political crisis. After his second term, the firm hand of Vladimir Putin promising stability seemed like a blessing in disguise. Klose also pointed out that perhaps the Americans expect results too quickly. They want to see Russia turned into a democracy in 20 years when they need to understand that it is a long and painstaking process which will only start to bear fruit after 2-3 generations. “Where should all the democrats come from? They were never there before,” he argued.

All in all I thought the panelists offered a very interesting perspective on why Russia is the way it is. The importance of diplomacy was reiterated by all members and the need to encourage President Medvedev to part with Kremlin's old ways.