Moscow's initial euphoria over its victory in Georgia has been tamed of late by the dramatic decline of its financial markets. Russia's political and business elite now have a better sense of the reality that their country's economic integration into the international system is a two-way street and that it depends heavily on the West's continued confidence in Moscow's direction. This in turn creates an opening on both sides for a new beginning. We won't have a beautiful friendship anytime soon, but we might be able to develop a viable path forward that advances our mutual interests and keeps our many disagreements under control. Russia will still make its own decisions and they often will not be the decisions we want to see. But in view of the alternatives, keeping the door open to a constructive relationship doesn't look so bad.

If the main questions in our relations with Russia were how perfectly Moscow has developed democracy, a market economy and an independent judiciary, how effectively Russia has been fighting corruption and whether its media is free and its elections fair, the case against cooperating with Russia would be easy to make. Anti-American gloating over the U.S. financial crisis by Russian officials and many in the Russian media makes it tempting to say in response to Moscow's own serious economic problems that it could not happen to a more deserving people. The problem is that in the real world, we can't turn our relationships with other major powers into a morality play without considerable costs. Cooperation with Russia is not a reward for its good behavior-it is something required by very important and even vital U.S. interests. Of course, even with the best U.S. efforts, there is always a possibility that Moscow would say "Nyet." Yet should it happen, we will have enough time to launch a vigorous response and we will be in a better position to mobilize strong international support after we have made a genuine attempt to reach common ground.

Demonizing our rivals and adversaries is not just about replacing objective evaluation with polemical oversimplification. It is a problem that can lead to tragic mistakes and unintended outcomes detrimental to U.S. interests, as it has in Iraq. Frustration with Russia is not an excuse for hurting America.

 

Dimitri K. Simes is the president of The Nixon Center and publisher of The National Interest.

Essay Types: The Realist