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Distrusting the Russians (again).

Article Excerpt
With elections in Russia fast approaching, relations with the West are deteriorating drastically. Three recent events highlight this downward trend. The most dramatic has been the failure of the United States and Russia to compromise on anti-missile defense (AMD). Reflecting months-long tensions, the latest round of talks in Maine between President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin ended with U.S. insistence on setting up a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.

The failures--mostly on the U.S. side--to reach a compromise on the issue prompted Putin to pull out of a treaty on conventional forces in Europe (CFE), which is now in its death throes. Also on the rocks are negotiations to further reduce the respective nuclear arsenals of the two superpowers. Finally, Russia's already shaky diplomatic relations with Great Britain plummeted after the latter requested a change in the Russian constitution to accommodate the extradition of a suspect in the poisoning death of Alexander Litvinenko.

Instead of Cold War flashbacks, however, the latest developments point to a far more subtle fact that is becoming all too obvious. The West never really trusted Russia. It has previously chosen to mask that distrust with a patronizing insistence that Russia is part of an imaginary country club of nations. On the verge of new administrations in both Russia and the United States, it looks as though the West would like to revoke Russia's membership.

Last week, the chairman of the House International Relations Committee Tom Lantos (D-CA) summed up the inconsistency of U.S. policy. "Russia is using anti-Americanism and antiWesternism to wreak havoc," he said. "No one is more aware than the Kremlin that the proposed missile defense system has nothing to do with Russia, but [Putin's] claims fit neatly into the spiteful rhetoric emanating from Moscow these days."

But what U.S. officials perceive as an acute bout of anti-Americanism is actually a Russia on the defensive. The Kremlin is desperately struggling to save face and figure out what exactly the West wants. Is the West still keeping a place at the table for Russia as a developed player in...

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