Richard N. Haass
Interviewee:
Interviewer:
The Obama administration's recent settling of the Russian spy case, along with its dealings with
Q. The recent Russian spy case ended rather quickly with the exchange of the ten suspected Russian agents and return of three or four accused spies to the West. It happened so quickly, before there was even a trial. Is that a sign that it was handled well?
A. The short answer is yes. This is the proverbial dog that barely barked in the night. I did think it was deftly handled, and I actually think it's part of a larger pattern in which U.S.-Russian relations have been, for the most part, well-handled. We've come a long way since the differences two years ago over
Q. Will missile defense produce a problem for ratification of the new START treaty?
A. I was speaking of the missile-defense system that was planned for the
My point is simply that in terms of foreign policy management, what we're seeing is a degree of maturation in the U.S.-Russian relationship where we're not allies, we're not adversaries -- we're somewhere in between. We cooperate on some issues, we disagree on others. And the two sides, I believe, are getting better at managing this hard-to-define but still important relationship.
Q. It was interesting that Russian President
A. The Russians have suffered in part because they've become something of a cash-crop economy based on energy. They want to broaden the economy, to make it less narrowly focused. Some people may also have a hidden agenda. Some people on our side are hoping to get some of these Russians who have been involved in unhelpful cyber-related activity more productively engaged in what we might call "Siliconski" Valley. What I see potentially desirable here is a more developed U.S.-Russian economic relationship. One reason that the U.S.-Chinese relationship has been able to weather various ups and downs is that we've established a fairly large economic relationship in which each side has a stake. I believe it would be useful to do the same thing in the U.S.-
Q.
A. It's another one of these relationships that is difficult to pigeon hole. We're neither allies nor adversaries, we're something in between. Each side has a major stake, if for different reasons, in the maintenance and development of a good relationship. Perhaps the most interesting recent development, even more than
Q. We've talked about two of this administration's successes. What about the
A. We just had the visit here of Israeli Prime Minister
Q. One surprise recently has been the deterioration of
A. There has been a deterioration. The Turks are apparently repositioning themselves, trying to also carve out a larger role for themselves in the Arab and in the Islamic world. It makes for good domestic politics in
Q. In November's congressional elections, the biggest issue that's probably going to be talked about is
A. In terms of foreign policy,
Q. Are you worried that the Taliban might retake control of
A. I believe it's inevitable that the Taliban will take control of parts of the Pashtun belt of
Q. It doesn't trouble you too much that if the Taliban is in control, a lot of things like woman's rights could be set back?
A. It troubles me, don't get me wrong. The question is: How does
Q. Do agree with
A. Let me say this about Mr. Steele's initial comments. He made two points. He made the point that history suggests
This administration has broadened U.S. policy to going after the Taliban and has broadened U.S. policy to now become state- or nation-building, and has tripled the U.S. military effort. So, yes this war began nine years ago, but this administration over the last eighteen months has dramatically changed the direction of the war effort and has dramatically increased the scale of the war effort. In that sense, Mr. Steele, before he withdrew his own comments, was actually more right on the foreign policy substance than not. I'll leave it to others to judge the politics of it.
Q. What about efforts to stop
A. Besides
Q. Do you want to say what they should do or leave that to the future?
A. Again, the answer is we're going to have to consider those possibilities based upon exactly where we think the Iranians are going to stop their program, what we think we can accomplish with the use of military force, how well we think we can handle various forms of Iranian retaliation. I don't think it's responsible or even smart to try to answer those questions in the abstract. And indeed I don't think either the Israeli or American governments have yet answered those questions in the abstract. My prediction is simply that if we're likely to reach the point where
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(C) 2010 Foreign Affairs