In November 2006 the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed titled, "Russia: The Enemy"
It looks like some U.S. media and pundits feel that America's list of enemies and foreign policy problems is boringly short and needs to be expanded. Forget about the second coming of the battle-hardened al- Qaeda and Taliban fighters, the Iraq quagmire where even supposedly loyal Kurds start messing things up, Iran with its nuclear ambitions, or nuclear Pakistan going through the most dangerous upheaval. The list of other U.S. foreign and domestic problems can be largely extended by any serious expert, but for some folks all this is just not enough. Instead of discussing ways to face the enormous challenges confronting the United States and trying to find an ally or two who can help us, they raise their influential voices demanding to expand America's enemy list by adding a now resurgent Russia to it.
There are many critical voices in America about Russia's behavior both at home and abroad, and some of their arguments are hard to dispute. Russia today is certainly not a beacon of democracy, nor is it always supportive of U.S. foreign policy objectives. But is it really so bad that we have to call it the "enemy"? Is it helpful to our security if we place a nuclear superpower on the U.S. enemies list?
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
on February 2, 2007 (Photo by: U.S. State Department)
One could dismiss this enemy-rustling rhetoric if it came from extreme sections of American society, but the first such explicit call actually came exactly one year ago on November 28, 2006 from none other than the respectable Wall Street Journal in an editorial titled "Russia: The Enemy: It's time we start thinking of Vladimir Putin's Russia as an enemy of the United States".
When the Wall Street Journal talks, people listen. In this case, though, there was clearly little enthusiasm in Washington for the new enemies witch hunt. President Bush has repeatedly stated since then: "Russia is not the enemy." Condoleezza Rice followed her boss's line as recently as three weeks ago when she actually admitted that, on the contrary, Russia is very helpful to the U.S., even in Iran, and that the main problems are with America's displeasure at Russia's domestic affairs and its energy policy. Russians identify this talk as "meddling in their internal affairs," "a game of double or even triple standards," "the American messianic democracy crusade," "financing of anti-Russian color revolutions in their backyard," etc. But does that make Russia the enemy? I do not think so.
Still, some folks do not give up so easily. The author of the WSJ editorial and two of his co-thinkers recently took another poke at the "Russia the Enemy" case during the supposedly intellectual debate on a scary Halloween night in a prestigious Manhattan club. This time they finally got what they wanted. The Weekly Standard summarized the results of the debate in an article headlined "Resolved: Russia is becoming our enemy again". It turned out that 47 percent of the audience supported the proposition.
Well, I am sure that the "Search for the Enemy" now will continue to gain momentum. Watch for the new headlines. After all, once you identify the enemy the next logical step is to look for enemy collaborators. A long time ago, the Ford Motor Company and IBM were scolded for doing business with the Nazi Germany, and now both of them are pretty busy in Russia. However, forget Ford and IBM; over 800 big and medium- sized U.S. companies belong to the American Chamber of Commerce in Moscow, and thousands smaller non-members actively do business in Russia. Shall we start boycotting their products for collaborating with the enemy? That would be a pretty tough job, though, since the list of "collaborators" comprises almost all the Fortune 500 companies, including none other than Boeing itself. The reason I mention Boeing is that according to the former U.S. Undersecretary of State and U.S. Ambassador to Moscow Thomas Pickering, now a Boeing senior advisor, there are around fifteen hundred Russian engineers and technicians sitting in Boeing's Moscow offices designing future aircraft. Shall we then blacklist Boeing along with Microsoft, ExxonMobil, Intel, PepsiCo, and McDonald's? For the full list please visit the AmCham and U.S.--Russia Business Council websites.
I do not want to cast doubt on the intellectual prowess of the 47 percent of people who voted during that debate in favor of putting Russia on the Enemies List. Perhaps they found the arguments in favor too persuasive. Or maybe the Halloween scare was also a factor. The good news is that at least 41 percent voted against this motion, which means that we have not reached the critical level of hysteria -- yet.
Edward Lozansky is President of the American University in Moscow.
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