Dear CCI Friends and Colleagues,
Following our recent email, “Will the Fog Clear?”, we are sending another article by Edward Lozansky, the President of the American University in Moscow. This time, he and Matthew Ehret, Vice-President of the Rising Tide Foundation and Senior Fellow of the American University in Moscow, have teamed up to present their perspective of the emerging new normal of a multi-polar world.
New Kontinent is a Russian publication in existence for nearly fifty years (including its previous non-digital format) and we urge you to consider their stated mission,
“The mission of the New Kontinent (NewKontinent.org) is to publish the works by Western authors, whose opinions are more objective and balanced regarding Russia, U.S. – Russia, and East-West relations. The unprecedented anti-Russian campaign in Western political circles and the media gives the Russian citizens the impression that in such conditions no dialogue is possible, but this is not true.
The current state of U.S.-Russia relations in no way reflects their real potential, nor does it serve the vital national interests of the two countries. In a world where the United States and Russia face so many common threats and challenges, they all too often view each other more as a foe than a friend.
The roots of this animosity go back to the time of the Cold War with both countries being cast as inevitable opponents incapable of finding common ground on any issue. Even today, the United States and Russia are separated not only by history and culture, but also by their geopolitical goals and domestic priorities. Contributing to the problem is the shortage of direct communication between civil institutions and business groups interested in better relations between the two countries.
No two nations can ever achieve total harmony in their world views. This, however, should not prevent the United States and Russia from trying to develop a constructive working relationship. Closer U.S.-Russia cooperation is in the best interests of both countries and the history also provides ample evidence that a coordinated U.S-Russian response to world challenges tends to reduce tension and produce positive results.
Communication is a key factor here. In order to better U.S.-Russia relations, the quality of bilateral dialog must be dramatically improved. Political and civil institutions in both countries must have a solid platform to discuss issues, exchange opinions, and resolve outstanding problems.
With this in mind, we have created New Kontinent to promote political, economic, and civil cooperation between the United States and Russia. We are committed to fighting old stereotypes, building trust and identifying areas of common interest. And while we perfectly understand that bringing friendship and genuine cooperation into U.S.-Russia relations is a difficult goal, we believe it is realistic.”
We look forward to your comments.
Center for Citizen Initiatives
Make History or End It: An Existential Civilizational Choice
August 29, 2023
By Matthew Ehret and Edward Lozansky
It wasn’t long ago that every forward-thinking American politician understood that the unipolar world order under the U.S. leadership was the only game in town.
Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor and Trilateral Commission co-founder Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote the following in his 1997 Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives:
“How the United States both manipulates and accommodates the principal geostrategic players on the Eurasian chessboard and how it manages Eurasia’s key geopolitical pivots will be critical to the longevity and stability of America’s global primacy.”
Anyone resisting this new normal was considered a holdout of an obsolete past age and ignorant of the inevitable Darwinian forces of natural selection propelling humanity towards a long-awaited ‘end of history’ as outlined by neo-con academic Francis Fukuyama who is now mingling with the members of Ukrainian “Azov battalion” which up until recently was described in the U.S. Congress as a terrorist neo-Nazi organization.