Don't press the black button

A month ago Joe Biden announced that the new US administration wants to "press the reset button" in its dealings with Moscow. I was reflecting on that and couldn't really understand what that could mean. I never saw any real problem with America's relations with Russia. Russia's relations with the whole world seemed crazy to me.

I'm looking forward to see how the renewed relations with Russia will work, but there is one thing that I already don't like.

In a recent article in the New York Times about the new trial of imprisoned Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovky there is no mentioning of any US reactionto the new charges being brought by the Russian government.

When the presidential election campaign in the US had just started, I remember feeling great sympathy toward John McCain because of his position toward Russia. That is a man, I thought, who really understands what's going on in that country, who wouldn't play its nasty games. I ended up preferring with Obama of course, but continue to respect McCain just for his position on Russia.

As US electoral sympathies of Russians on the whole, there were no real preferences to be seen either toward Obama or McCain. It looked like people didn't like either. I remember listening to Radio Freedom in Moscow (one of the two independent radio stations in Russia. It is financed by US State Department) when a listener called to express his views about the American presidential campaign and said: "I think America is in a real crisis if they can't find any white guy to be president..." Although Russia didn't like McCain for his harsh critiques of Moscow, it wasn't able to consider a black person as an option.

Although McCain seemed more explicit in his positions toward Russia, it was difficult to say who, McCain or Obama would be a better option for those in Russia who look for American support in Russia's road to democracy... It was, however, clear that Obama doesn't bother too much about other countries - he was much more concerned about his own, and that couldn't provide Russian democrats with much hope.

I remember Hillary Clinton not being able to pronounce President Dmitry Medvedev's name.

Now she will be able to personally find out that not only his name is inarticulate.

I'm not sure that "resetting" relations is a good thing to start with. It looks like many people in the US have a really distorted picture of what's going on in Russia. In a recent article about Obama's secret letter to Medvedev, Slate magazine gave Obama extra 25 points for that on its "The-Change-o-Meter" and wrote:

Obama's proposition is a significant shift from previous attitudes about Russia, and murmurs in Moscow suggest Obama's extended palm is a welcome change from Bush's clenched fist. The 'Meter slides up 25 points for burying old assumptions and engaging with a nation whose power and prominence is steadily growing.

Are you guys reading any news from Russia? It seems like you will soon be sending secret letters down a black hole!