The big chill
from
The Economist
AMERICA'S security is threatened less by Russia's strength than by its weakness and incoherence, wrote Condoleezza Rice, now America's secretary of state, in 2000, shortly before Vladimir Putin and George Bush were elevated to their countries' presidencies. The Russia that Ms Rice visited this week sees itself differently. It feels economically strong, assertive and more coherent at least in its anti-Americanism.
Russia has learned to use its vast natural resources to exert power in Europe and beyond. This week, just ahead of a testy bilateral summit with the European Union in Samara, its clout was enhanced by Mr Putin's crude but effective diplomacy in Central Asia. He persuaded Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to send more gas exports through Russia, spoiling the rival plans of America and Europe for a trans-Caspian pipeline that would skirt south of Russia. Ms Rice's comment that no one needs a monopoly in natural resources will merely bring smiles to the faces of Kremlin officials.
Just before Ms Rice's visit, the Kremlin's rumbustious anti-American rhetoric hit new peaks. In his speech on Victory Day (May 9th), Mr Putin seemed to liken America to the Third Reich. The victory once again will be ours, Russia's state television channel echoed. This week Ms Rice and Mr Putin agreed to tone down such verbal hostilities. But they made no progress on wider disputes.
Russia's self-esteem has long been inseparable from its relationship with America. To have America as an enemy in the cold war gave the Soviet Union a sense of urgency and purpose. The end of the cold war deprived Russia of a vital adversary. It is only logical that Russia should now demonstrate its resurgence by sparring with America again. America's troubles in Iraq make this an apt moment for Russia to return to the world stage.
America is a crucial part of Russian domestic life and its self-consciousness, says Lilia Shevtsova of the Carnegie Moscow Centre. America consolidates Russia's elite and prolongs its existence. But America has a big place in popular imagination too. Lev Gudkov, a sociologist, says the view of America as rival is inseparable from the perception that it is a country of wealth and happiness: a Utopia. (Tell them I've gone to America, says a character in Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, before putting a gun to his head.)
