Dear CCI Friends,

Yesterday a great man, a truly great ‘thought leader’ left our planet. Mikhail Gorbachev made his mark on our world by being the only Soviet leader to come to the United States where he stole the heart of our American people. He got out of cars in the middle of Manhattan to shake hands with hundreds of ordinary Americans. This happened in city after city. His ever-ready smile and affable personality won the hearts of millions of us.

Fate didn’t allow Gorbachev to lead his nation after the USSR broke up; nonetheless, he still represents an era, a time … when both Americans and Russians thought that a new world order could be created by our two former adversarial countries.

As Secretary General, Gorbachev allowed us (the Center for US-USSR Initiatives, now CCI) to start Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) in the USSR, the first meeting being in Kiev in 1985, the next in Moscow where AA was advertised on a large video screen in central Moscow. This was unheard of at the time! He next allowed us to have ‘closed meetings’ (not allowed then) across 11 time Zones. Our AA citizen leaders took the program all the way to Magadan in the Far East. Today AA is all over Russia and eight of the former USSR states.

In recent years numbers of our CCI delegates have been able to meet with and question Mr. Gorbachev at his Foundation in central Moscow. The last CCI delegation was just before COVID. We are deeply grateful for those wonderful meetings with him in the past.

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Dear CCI Friends,

Jeffrey Sachs is a name familiar to all who watched the breakup of the USSR and the devastating period that ensued in the 1990s. The ruble became worthless, hunger and death were omnipresent as the entire country and surrounding regions were plunged into a crisis for their survival. I remember this period very distinctly. It was tragic. Sachs learned that Harvard’s approach failed the Russian people. Check “The Power of Impossible Ideas” pages 81 – 85. Fortunately Sachs was a quick learner and is one of the most astute voices in the field regarding what needs to be done today with Russia and China. He is one of the few voices willing to discuss the entire history leading to the current crisis, a crisis that could have been avoided. I offer his essay for your consideration.

Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives

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Dear CCI Readers,

For Citizen Diplomats, one man stands out in my mind as the ultimate citizen who started young at age 19 by leaving his native Canada and traveling through the United States and throughout Mexico and Central America. He says that it opened his eyes to the impact of multinational corporations and the roles played by the U.S. and Canada. Rick Sterling has continued to travel throughout the world to support people striving for peace and security. Today, at age 73 years young, he is trying to wake up America about its dangerous attempt to take Russia down to get their oil, gas and numerous other subsoil treasures. This of course is what the Ukraine war is all about. Read his commonsensical review of crisis management of former U.S. leaders from JFK to Biden.

Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives

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There Are No Core U.S. National Interests at Stake in Ukraine

Ordinary Americans can be forgiven for thinking Ukraine must be especially meaningful for U.S. foreign policy.

National Interest
July 9, 2022
By William Ruger

Somebody has to say it: the war in Ukraine does not materially affect the permanent national interests of the United States or the geopolitical landscape in which we advance those interests. This conclusion—for good or bad or anywhere in-between—shouldn’t significantly impact the future of U.S. foreign policy. The war may tug on our heartstrings for sure, but it should not dissuade us from making the necessary changes to our grand strategy that position our country for long-run success, like our recent withdrawal from Afghanistan. These changes include increasing our focus on China as our most important strategic competitor, extricating ourselves from Europe and the Middle East, and emphasizing domestic renewal over ostensible altruism abroad.

However, there are important lessons for the future of U.S. foreign policy that can be learned from the conflict, especially regarding the offense-defense balance and Russia’s revealed conventional capability. But these aren’t the ones that you’ll hear from the foreign policy establishment, which will always spin positive outcomes or trouble overseas as reasons to redouble our commitment to the primacist status quo they favor.

Heads, I win; tails, you lose.

Ordinary Americans can be forgiven for thinking Ukraine must be especially meaningful for U.S. foreign policy. As the war unfolded, they could see red ink signifying Russian forces spreading across the map of Ukraine as Vladimir Putin’s aggression threatened Kyiv and other parts of the country. Prompted by hawkish commentators, they worried about whether Russia would stop at the western border. Daily, they were treated to intense battlefield videos of the most devastating war in Europe since World War II, some showing the cruelty of Russian soldiers while others the heroism of Ukrainian patriots.

But those worried by events in Ukraine can rest assured that they mean less to the United States than it might seem, especially if they have been listening only to the play-by-play commentary provided by Washington mandarins who tell Americans they must do more while ignoring the dangers of doing so and lack of vital interests to justify growing risks of involvement. Fortunately, the permanent features of the world that support America’s safety and the conditions of our prosperity remain largely unaffected by the conflict.

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Dear CCI Friends,

Several of us at CCI want the following article by Jeffrey Sachs, an expert in U.S. political economics, to be read today by as many Americans as possible.

Sachs’ keen perspective on the current debacle in U.S./Russia relations comes from his decades of experience between the two countries starting with mistakes made in the 1990s.

We live in very uncertain times and fortunately voices like Sachs’ remind us how we got where we are, and what to do differently in the immediate future.

Please forward to your colleagues and friends.

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