U.S. Allows Russia Exceptions in Iranian Sanctions

In the New York Times article "U.S. Makes Concessions to Russia for Iran Sanctions", published on May 21st, Baker and Sanger explain the U.S.'s actions in regards to the Russia's involvement with the Iranian weaponry. The U.S. lifted American sanctions against the Russian military complex and agreeing not to ban the sale of Russian anti-aircraft batteries to Tehran. These actions were made as a result of the increasing trust between the two nations, although they have drawn many critics. However, Obama's administration sites Russia's reluctance to deliver the order of S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Tehran as a sign of Russia's trustworthiness.

This article relates to Comparative Government because of the huge foreign policy issues. As the U.N. increasingly supports sanctions against Iran, Russia finds itself split between forging strong ties with the west and maintaining a trade relationship with Iran.

Eastern Europe Seeks to Diversify Energy Supply

In the New York Times article "Eastern Europe, Seeking Energy Security, Turns to Shale Gas", published on May 11, 2010, Judy Dempsey discusses the recent exploration into the field of shale gas as an alternative energy source. Eastern European countries are currently looking into mining for shale gas in the Polish regions of the Baltic, Podlasie, and Lublin Basin. The countries that would benefit from any significant shale findings are all seeking increased energy security and independence from Russian oil. Poland also wants to link pipelines with Western Europe in order to protect the supply of energy from shortages, like the Russia-Ukraine energy disputes in 2005 and 2008.

This desire for separation from the Russian oil market does not bode well for the Russian economy, as an increasing amount of business is shifted to alternative energy sources. Foreign investors no longer feel comfortable with the rocky Russian oil supply, and therefore Russia is going to definitely need to diversify its economy to ensure no economic downturn in the near future do to shifting oil demands.

Allies Join Forces for Russia's Victory Day Celebration

In the New York Times article titled "Western Troops Join Russia's in Victory Day Celebration", published on May 9, Clifford Levy tells of western participation in Russia's largest secular holiday celebrating the Allies victory over Nazi Germany. The participation by NATO countries including France, the U.S., and Britain, signified Russia's improved relations with the West. In the past Russia has used the Victory Day celebration to show its western sentiments as Putin utilized it to instill hostilities towards the U.S., but this year Medvedev gladly shared the glory of the Allies victory with the other countries in attendance. However, not all shared his sentiment. There were some, mainly Communists and Nationalists, that protested the other countries' participation, although most saw it as a sign of respect. In Russia WWII is "intensely memorialized and dramatized" seeing as Russia lost approximately 25 million lives, and therefore the Russian citizens do not mind the display of such symbols as the sickle and hammer on Victory Day.

This Victory Day Celebration exhibits a huge shift in foreign relations between Russia and the West, and the friendliness should hold for quite some time. However, the protestations of some signify a social cleavage between those that trust the West and those who continue to remain suspicious.

Bombings in the Moscow Metro

In the recent Economist article "After the Moscow bomgings: Another Russian Tragedy", published March 31, 2010, the author explains the after effects of the recent suicide bombing in two Moscow Metro stations. Although less people are frequenting the public transportation system, it is up and running again only twelve hours after the bombings. The Metro stations were bombed by two female suicide bombers who were quickly identified by the security teams. The speedy recovery was indicative of the entire effort put forth by the Russian government. Many point fingers to the Muslim northern Caucuses of Russia that have been the recent cause of so much civil unrest. However, few Russians outside of that region pay any attention to the shocking events that occur there almost daily. The bombings haven't even attracted any attention as politicians use them for their own political gain. Some officials claim that the bombings are the fault of liberals who allow the expression of government dissent. Others argue that this is the reason that independent news broadcasts and regional elections should be stopped.

The social cleavage between the Russians and the Muslims of the northern Caucasus as Russians eagerly point fingers towards the Muslims. Also, the idea that this bombing should be reason to take away free expression and elections shows that Russia is increasingly moving away from democaracy and towards an authoritarian government.

The U.S. and Russia Battle Mistrust to Finalize Nuclear Arms Agreement

In the recent New York Times article "Twists and Turns on Way to Arms Pact with Russia", published March 26, 2010, Peter Baker reports on the multiple hurdles that the two countries have jumped in order to finally come to an agreement on the long time issue of nuclear arms reduction. Rose Gotemoeller of the United States and Anatoly Antonov of Russia were appointed to head the agreement between the two nations, and although the majority of the agreement was supposed to come from the administration of both states, their respective leaders, Obama and Medvedev, were incredibly focused and involved in the negotiations. At first the two countries simply wanted to extend the original Start I treaty that expired in December, but negotiations proved that they needed to tackle more than just the extension and update of inspections and verifications systems and modest arms reductions. President Obama took a trip to Moscow in July in order to "narrow differences over treaty goals" as American negotiators pushed for a specific numerical limit for arms and Russian negotiators pushed to leave it relatively undefined, eventually compromising by enacting a target range. The Russians also brought up missile defense, wondering how Moscow was expected to cut its arsenal while the U.S. could negate the small nuclear force. Also, the Russians refused an update of the verification system because they viewed it as an agreement made when the country was weak and therefore American inspections were an insult, as well as unnecessary between to friendly countries. In addition to those demands Russia called for a reduction in American missile launchers and refused to the American proposal of required telemetry (the science and technology of automatic measurement and transmission of data by wire, radio, or other means from remote sources, as from space vehicles, to receiving stations for recording and analysis). However, at a meeting concerning climate change in Copenhagen the two leaders met and finally found common ground on all of the above issues, and the Americans left in celebration, but none of the agreement was put down in writing. Later a team of Americans traveled to Moscow and finalized everything, except for the sore subject of missile defense. After one final push in Moscow Russia and the U.S. drafted their statements, but Russia stipulated that it would pull out of the agreement if it deemed American defense missiles to be a threat, and the U.S. clarified that it would continue to build its defense system, but it was not making a target of Russia. The two leaders ended everything with a phone call stating " 'If you want something done right,' Mr. Medvedev began in English, and Mr. Obama finished his thought: 'you do it yourself.'"

This article related to Comparative Government because of the huge foreign relations issue that arose. The agreement increased the legitimacy of both governments, as well as the transparency in the realm of nuclear arms. The breakthrough in foreign policy also serves as a landmark on the road to rebuilding relations between the two major countries.

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Russia and France Form a Unique Partnership

On March 1st, 2010 The New York Times published the article "Medvedev Visits France in Bid for Closer Ties" in which Steven Erlanger explains Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's desire to form a special relationship with Europe. Medvedev arrived in France on Monday, March 1st for a three day visit with French President Nicolas Sarkozy that was "intended to enhance the prestige of both men, profit their companies, and remind French voters that Mr. Sarkozy's foreign policy is not beholden to Washington." Sarkozy announced that France had opened negotiations with Russia to sell four "Mistral-class amphibious assault ships" against the strong criticisms from the EU and the U.S. Russia's justification comes from their assertations that if such ships were available to them at the time, the invasion of Georgia would have been much faster. Medvedev called the deal "a symbol of trust between our two countries" and Sarkozy explained that "it was time to turn the page on the Cold War" and that the world can not call upon Russia to assert peace, then say that Russia can not be trusted. During the trip the two also praised a deal struck between France's dominant natural gas company, GDF Suez, and the holder of Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom, in which GDF agreed to buy a 9% stake in the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline in exchange for 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas from Gazprom.

This article's application comes mainly from the increased foreign relations between France and Russia. France stands as a force in the western world, and its increased interaction with Russia could bring further trust in Russia from other western democracies, or it could alienate France. Russia and France's future actions with each other also hold major implications for the legitimacy of both governments.

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Russia Sentences Neo-Nazi Skinheads to Maximum Jail Time

In the BBC article, "Neo-Nazi Skinheads Jailed in Russia for Racist Killings", published on February 25th 2010, Artyom Liss reports on the conviction of a youth gang of "neo-nazis" that have been responsible for a number of brutal murders in recent months. The gang, populated mostly by teenagers, targeted people of Central Asian origin and beat them to death while filming the process on their phones and uploading the videos to the internet. However, these skinheads did not limit themselves to those who were irrefutably Central Asian. One could be eligible just by looking Slavic or speaking with the wrong accent. The gang has titled itself "The White Wolves" and they often accompany their killings with shouts of "Russia for the Russians!". Russian courts sentenced the gang leader to 23 years in prison, and 9 years for the other 8 captured gang members, the maximum legal jail time for juveniles. However, this is just one group. Skinhead gangs have been deemed responsible for over 70 deaths in 2009 alone, but this trial has served as an example and human rights activists have welcomed the sentence.

This story shows the upsurge in race related deaths in Russia as social cleavages deepen. While Russia is predominately Russian, the Soviet Union and its breakup brought many different cultures into the land. A religious cleavage has formed as well while Muslims continue to immigrate into a state that has traditionally followed the Russian Orthodox church. But the courts and government have gained a degree of legitimacy from their crackdown on skinhead killings.

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Russia's Olympic Superiority Slips Away

In the New York Times article "Chill Descends Over Russia as Olympic Medals Prove Elusive", published on February 18th, 2010, Michael Schwirtz explains Russia's despair as the country watches the gold medals that were predicted to adorn its athletes, hang around the necks of others. In the first five days Russia accumulated only three medals, as opposed to the nine they amassed at the same time in Torino. One area where they seem to excel? Excuse-making. Russian athletes and coaches have blamed everything from the weather to the facilities to the humidity for their athletic follies. After an accusation of mocking the Aborigines, the Russian ice dancing duo was pressured to alter their performance. Valentin Piseev, president of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, then claimed that "they were the target of an international plot to force them to alter their performance." Russia has utilized the Olympic games one of the last arenas in which they can exert their strength, but ever since the fall of the USSR, Russia's athletics have suffered. After the breakup of the Soviet Union many coaches and athletes moved to other countries, or became citizens of the newly independent satellites, leaving the Russian sports machine in disarray. Russia was able to use Soviet trained athletes throughout the 1990s, allowing it to remain as an Olympic superpower, but those who came of age to enter the Olympics after the Soviet collapse are now being termed "the lost generation". Recently, the government as been pumping money into the rebuilding of the athletic sector, but in true Lenin fashion, it has not paid off soon enough. Now officials are calling for the firing of athletic coordinators and Putin has issued a statement "suggesting that there could be repercussions for athletic officials if Russian athletes continue to fall short in Vancouver." “'Anything under fourth place for our team will certainly be a failure, including for those who oversee athletics in our country,'” said Boris Gryzlov, a United Russia leader who is speaker of Parliament."

The Olympic games serve as on of the largest peaceful forums under which dozens of countries come together to compete in athletic events and spectate, making it a huge foreign affairs issue. A country's public image can vastly change based on its performance, and Russia is seeing the last of its superpower image slip away with each gold medal lost. Russia's economic policy has also been altered recently in order to install a bigger and better athletic program to echo the sports program seen under the Soviet Union. Plus, Putin's statement concerning repercussions largely concerns his governmental dominance and the nationalization of the Russian sports industry. If he has the capability to punish athletic coordinators based on their athletes performance in the Olympic games, it calls into question the legitimacy and transparency of the Russian government, and serves as another example of Russia's excuse-making.

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Russia to Sign a Nuclear Reduction Treaty with the U.S.

Russia and the U.S. are on the verge of signing a nuclear arms reduction treaty that would greatly reduce the number of nuclear warheads and delivery vehicles, according to the New York Times. The two countries hope to have the agreement signed in time for it to set an example for an international conference in May. This landmark agreement has mended relations between the two largest nuclear arms holders after relations hit a post-cold war low with Russia's war with Georgia in 2008. President Obama and President Medvedev initially laid out plans last year to forge a successor to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start I), but a plan was not concluded by the time the treaty expired on December 5th. Among the remaining details that need to be worked out is the agreement on the exact amount of arms reduction. Currently the two countries plan to reduce nuclear warheads from current levels to 1,500 to 1,675, and delivery vehicles from 500 to 1,100. In order to pass, the agreement must be ratified by law makers in both countries, and other issues remain, such as how to monitor and verify the treaty's terms.

The renewed relations between Russia and the U.S. allow one to see how international relations reflects hugely on a country. Russia has undergone a great change in political culture since the fall of the Soviet Union, and among the top issues in the state is international relations. Plus, the reduction of nuclear arms portrays a desire for peace, a thought that hasn't been on the top of these countries' lists for quite some time. Not to mention that more countries feel safer dealing with Russia economically when it has the U.S. as an ally. The Russian oligarch that owns Rusel aluminum processing is now closer to instituting an I.P.O with Hong Kong. Russian has long been a world superpower, but the country still needs to improve its world status, and the government is finally taking steps to do just that.

Photo Credit: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2009/04/01/2009-04-01

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Shawna Taets