Russian-American negotiations on a new agreement to reduce strategic
offensive arsenals have reached the decisive phase. The conclusion of
such an agreement would be a key link in the "reset" of relations
between Moscow and Washington.
Since the end of the Cold War, US
and Russian leaders have twice announced a strategic partnership – in
the early 1990s and after September 11, 2001. But both times those
hopes turned to mutual disappointment. The reason for this was
Washington’s unwillingness to recognise Moscow as an equal partner or
to consider Russian interests in the international arena. Will this
current effort be more successful?
There are grounds for hope. My
recent conversations with leading political experts, members of the
National Security Council, State Department and Pentagon, as well as US
congressmen, suggest that the American elite has no illusions
concerning "a single superpower in a unipolar world". The Obama
administration understands that America will have to adjust to a
polycentric system of international relations. Washington needs allies
and partners in order to extricate itself from the current systemic
crisis, and that will require not unilateral actions, but multilateral
coalitional diplomacy.
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