NEWSWATCH: “America Needs to Break its Old Habits on Russia. Washington’s strategy is a relic of a bygone era.” – The National Interest/Thomas Graham
… there should be no doubt that the goal that had animated policy since the end of the Cold War … slow but steady integration of Russia into the Euro-Atlantic community — is beyond reach. Russia is no longer interested, if it ever was. Its ambition is to fortify itself as an independent great power based in central Eurasia. It is sharpening its challenge to the U.S.-led world order. * * * A major challenge will be crafting a coherent policy out of the various approaches to Russia on discrete issues. How do we structure Ukraine sanctions so as not to drive a weakened Russia into China’s arms … Are there ways we can engage Russia in the Middle East that do not jeopardize our interests … while helping to defuse tensions in Europe? As much as we might want to compartmentalize issues, we cannot, because for Russians everything is linked and trust is not divisible, and because a vast disparity in power tempts Russians to seek asymmetrical and unorthodox responses to the challenges they believe we pose to them. In these circumstances, Russia policy needs to be overseen by a senior official close to the president who can break down the bureaucratic stovepipes and integrate the various policy components … into a coherent whole. … Effective policy will require complicated trade-offs within and across issues in a global context … increasingly fluid. …