While I was living in Moscow, this space was often filled with my frustrated observations - rants, even - on the state of the Russian media, Russian political elites' mentality, et cetera. Perhaps not surprisingly, it has taken but a few short months in the cocoon of hypocrisy that is Washington, DC, under the present administration for me to grow just as weary of the tone of many American commentators, not to mention the political elites, if they can even be called that.
The sentiment behind this post has been brewing for some time - as an American who has enjoyed poking fun at the Russian authorities' attempts to control the media in their own country, I realize that our own recently revealed attempts to free the nascent Iraqi press through payola don't do much for any American's credibility on such matters. And as someone who's been known to call attention to Russia's misconduct in - and of - the Chechen conflict, I don't exactly feel as though America has even a semblance of the moral authority we once enjoyed on issues of human rights and war crimes - even on an issue as basic and fundamental to America's national identity as what it means to promote freedom and democracy - anymore.
Not that this is an entirely new feeling - after all, the Bushies have been making America look bad for a couple of years now with policies both foreign and domestic, which was hard not to notice even from halfway around the world - but it's getting more and more pervasive.
Although may seem like a bit of a non sequitur, I was going to link next to an article by a pro-American news service talking in incredulous terms about Russia's latest move to cozy up to Iran - oh, hell, here's the link - which sort of set me off on the above train of thought. The author sounds surprised that Russia feels itself able to conduct a foreign policy consistent with its own vision of the world as opposed to one consistent with the (official) US view of the way things oughta be.
Although I was impervious to and unswayed by Russian indignation about such articles and attitudes while I was in Russia, being back in the capital of the sole superpower of what remains, for now, a unipolar world, and seeing once again the fruits of American provincialism cross-bred with a desire to project power around the world, I find it much easier to sympathize with the Russians' seemingly reflexive and sometimes misguided (though just as often shrewdly self-interested) desire to serve as a counterweight of some sorts to America in the world.
Good thing I'm going back to Russia for a visit in just 10 days - I guess I need to be reminded that the guys in charge over there have generally been much more successful in their media manipulation and silencing of dissenting political views than even the Bush-Cheney team, and there's nothing for that like a few nights of watching the Russian TV news. Then, just when I start feeling proud to be from the US again, I'll get to come back to Washington.
A note on sources*: A first-time visitor to this site might look at the articles linked in the post above - predominantly previous posts of mine with a few Slate articles mixed in - and conclude that I'm a self-absorbed, knee-jerk liberal, and perhaps a flag-burner, too. But that's not the case (although I guess you'll have to take my word for it). I'm just a simple guy who's nostalgic for the feeling of easy, righteous indignation generated by observing the Russian government's blunders up close and personal - and one who gets very uncomfortable when forced to observe my own government's similar shortcomings in such close quarters. Maybe this is why some expats never come home.
*in true academic tradition.
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OK, I'm glad I got that out of my system. Now I can get back to preparing for my last exam (next Monday) and, more importantly, forgetting about the one I took today. Our regularly scheduled programming will resume next week.
1 comment:
Lyndon,
You are absolutely right for your observations about the state of affairs regarding US foreign policy under Bush post 9/11. In my own cynical fashion, I attribute much of this to the Bush Administration taking advantages of opportunities in the wake of 9/11 ... to create a case for war in Iraq. Whether this policy was simply to put Iraqi oil back on the international market or to nation-build a "democratic" country theoretically agreeable to US policies (or some combination thereof) is debatable.
However, Russian policy is also taking advantage of situations created by US ineptness in Iraq and foreign policy. It is the same (or similar) play as during the Cold War. Russian support of Iran ... particularly when Iran is faced with the US next door in Iraq ... is not very different than North/South Korea, North/South Vietnam, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, etc. Each picks a side for their own self-interests and attempts to counter the other.
We in the US tend to consider the Cold War to be over (we don't tend to think of Russia in direct adversarial terms any longer), but I think that Russian foreign policy can only be correctly viewed as a continuation of Cold War policy. It is as if we've walked away from the table, presuming the game of chess is over, and they are still moving pieces.
The dismantling of the Soviet Union changed the frontlines (consider the Baltics, Poland, and Central Asia) but the game is still on. It just isn't as overt. You can call it a Cooler Cold War .. a bit more coy than before.
As a side note, I'm actually travelling to the Moscow and Yaroslavl the 26th to the 6th for New Years. Hope you have a safe trip.
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