Riling Russians

I'm looking at an elementary school down the street and asking, "Would children do any worse conducting U.S. foreign policy than our current national leaders?" Instead of simple knee-jerk, hate-filled criticism found in too many blogs, however, we need insight, inspiration, and intelligent solutions to the pervasive challenges ahead of us.

Still, such idealism is difficult to maintain given Secretary of State Rice's performance in Moscow last week. If the Administration's purpose in her visit there was to weaken U.S.-Russia relations much further, antagonize President Putin and his handlers, and encourage a growing Russian-Iranian alliance, well, it's mission accomplished. Look, we all know that Putin is a thug and cozy enabler of the oligarchs. We understand that he has deterred what might have been a reasonably democratic path for Russia. Still, it makes no sense to stand on somebody else's turf and lecture them about democracy and human rights when, dare I say, we have some distance to go in that regard right here at home.

Because of our mismanagement of world affairs, we actually need Putin and the Russians - like it nor not. We should be trying to work with them as we have worked with other dubious leaders who likely don't and won't cross the line into being outright butchers. What choice do we have anyway? The Russians are a great people and Russia itself is brimming with oil, gas, cash, and clout that it is not shy about using. I see no purpose served in broadening and deepening the gulf between us at this sensitive stage. Furthermore, one can only imagine Putin's anti-American frame of mind after Rice's hectoring as he led the Caspian Sea Summit in Tehran this week. Drawing Putin closer to Iranian President Ahmadinejad and further linking their energy and military interests can only do us harm. Instead, the idea should be to neutralize the Russian vote on Iran nuclear energy in the United Nations, not swing it toward Tehran.