Defense Secretary Robert Gates met with French officials recently to voice US concerns over the sale of a Mistral-class amphibious assault ship to Russia. Gates says that they are very concerned over any new arms sales taking place in the region, especially because they are not currently at war. In addition, many of the previous Soviet republics expressed renewed fear of Russian arming. Georgia seemed to express the most concern having just ended a war with the Russian government and their proximity to the Black Sea that could be a potential docking station for the new ships. It is slightly questionable why the Russian government would seek to by new warships when they are currently in a peace state. Gates suggested that the world can not continue to treat Russia with Soviet era skepticism if there is no precedence.
I agree that our bipolar view of Russia really needs to be steadied - either we like them or we don't. Although we may be wary of some of the Russian government's recent actions, it is unfair to treat them with the same reacitonary caution simply because they used to be Communist. If we want to become a more approachable, accepting country, we cannot hold Russia to a double standard any more. I think we need to commit to either a position of full-time skepticism and distrust, or take a leap of faith and be completely trusting and open to the Kremlin (while of course increasing covert intelligence of the region to back up our trust). Trust is a tricky thing, but essential to the prospering of the world.
Links:
www.newyorktimes.com/2010/02/09/world/europe/09gates.html?ref=politics
http://www.csmonitor.com/
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