The presidential transition has raised a variety of questions regarding the future of U.S. foreign policy. In an Bloggingheads debate with Robert Wright of the New America Foundation, Robert Kagan expressed his views and reaffirmed his belief that the power of nations—rather than international legal principles—must still play the defining role in shaping international relations.
Weakened by the economic crisis, President Medvedev and the Kremlin do not want to risk any chance of allowing popular dissent to develop in Russia's regions. But by attacking its opponents the Kremlin is showing its helplessness. Before the crisis it had hoped to modernize the country, now it must resort to damage control.
In the wake of the Russia-Georgia conflict commentators often ask whether the U.S. and Russia can cooperate. The urgency of nuclear threats around the world, including Iran's ambitions, requires both countries to “wall off” their nuclear discussion from other issues that might hinder progress on finding solutions to common security challenges.
Nearly 86,000 people have signed a letter asking President Medvedev to pardon Svetlana Bakhmina, a former lawyer for Yukos. Bakhmina, who is due to give birth within weeks, is in a prison camp. Yet Medvedev continues to ignore the call for mercy from thousands of Bakhmina's supporters and thus stands personally responsible for her suffering.
Young Russian novelists are today reengaging with the classic Russian debate between apathy and action. Their tendency to create passive protagonists serves as a metaphor for citizens' general sense of powerlessness and malaise toward the current government.
Although it is South Ossetia and Abkhazia that have been receiving most of the world’s attention this fall, Russia’s own north Caucasus region should not be ignored. In fact, Carnegie’s Alexey Malashenko predicts that this area of Russia is likely to experience serious turbulence in the coming year.
Although President-elect Obama and President Medvedev have not gotten off to a warm start, that may not set the tone of the relationship. In the past, leaders in both capitals that started with high expectations about the other country were subsequently disappointed.
As emerging-market powers have grown economically, their geopolitical rise is occurring equally quickly. The G20 summit highlights a new ‘new world order,’ in which emerging powers have a stronger voice in international institutions. Despite their sometimes differing agendas, countries like China, India, Russia, and Brazil are learning to work together to earn a voice in this new economic order.
In his first—and possibly last—state-of-the-nation speech, President Medvedev seemed to focus on returning Putin to the Kremlin instead of adequately addressing Russia’s troubled economy. It is clear from the address that the president intends to increase United Russia's dominance by increasing its control over both the regional elite and the government.
The election of Barack Obama as President means that he now joins President Dmitry Medvedev as the first post-baby boom leaders of their respective nations. Because the two leaders are so clearly of a new generation, they have the most opportunity to finally succeed in breaking the old patterns of distrust and disengagement between the United States and Russia.

























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