Andranik Migranyan, the Director of the Institute for Democracy and Cooperation, a non-governmental think tank, shares his opinion about current landscape of Russia U.S. relation with account of recent Republican gains.
After the midterm elections results were first announced, some Russian and American experts rushed to make public statements that the Republican gain of majority in the House of Representatives could have a negative impact on the Obama administration's policy of "resetting" relations with Russia. It seems that this conclusion may be not only premature, but also erroneous
First of all, during the 2010 election campaign, foreign policy issues were on the far periphery of both politicians' and voters' attention
Secondly, the Republicans won because they promised voters that they would cut government spending. The budget deficit and total national debt grew at threatening rate and reached critical level .
Thirdly, an increasing number of American policy experts share the opinion that Russia does not pose a threat to the vital interests of Europe or the USA in the foreseeable future.
The last point is evidenced by the amount of attention US media devoted to a joint Russian-US anti-drug raid in Afghanistan last week, making room for the story even during the last few days of campaigning, and the fact that the commentary on the joint operation was generally positive
The full version of this article was published on valdaiclub.com/content/impact-midterm-elections-us-russian-relations
After the midterm elections results were first announced, some Russian and American experts rushed to make public statements that the Republican gain of majority in the House of Representatives could have a negative impact on the Obama administration's policy of "resetting" relations with Russia. It seems that this conclusion may be not only premature, but also erroneous
First of all, during the 2010 election campaign, foreign policy issues were on the far periphery of both politicians' and voters' attention
Secondly, the Republicans won because they promised voters that they would cut government spending. The budget deficit and total national debt grew at threatening rate and reached critical level .
Thirdly, an increasing number of American policy experts share the opinion that Russia does not pose a threat to the vital interests of Europe or the USA in the foreseeable future.
The last point is evidenced by the amount of attention US media devoted to a joint Russian-US anti-drug raid in Afghanistan last week, making room for the story even during the last few days of campaigning, and the fact that the commentary on the joint operation was generally positive
The full version of this article was published on valdaiclub.com/content/impact-midterm-elections-us-russian-relations
