Iraq and Afghanistan

The United States is engaged in a struggle for the extension of freedom in the world at the same time as it tries to rally the responsible states of the world against the threat of al-Qaida. This requires a delicate balancing act, one that appears to be misunderstood in Washington. The first requirement of a free world is respect for basic human rights, not the adoption or maintenance of a political system similar to our own. From this perspective, the Op-Ed by Paul Wolfowitz in today’s paper criticizing the imprisonment of a journalist in Indonesia is praiseworthy. We should stand up for freedom in this context. On the other hand, recent remarks by American leaders about the need for Russia to grant independence to Chechnya or more recently the remarks of Powell, Kerry and other American politicians criticizing Putin’s proposals to change certain aspects of the Russian governmental system are not helpful. Yes, Putin wants to create a more centralized system. But Russia has often been highly centralized. At this juncture what Putin wants to do may be necessary for the health of the state. It ill becomes highly placed Americans who appear to have little concept of how Russia is or should be governed to denounce the suggested changes.

If American leaders want to criticize aspects of Russia’s human rights record, fine. Just as we should accept the criticisms of others of our human rights record. But within very broad limits, their government structure is largely their business, just as the political structure of much more repressive China is the business of the Chinese — and the 2000 voting results in Florida was our business. If American academics want to criticize Putin’s announced changes in order to show solidarity with Russian liberals, fine. But for the foreseeable future we will need to work with the leaders of Russia. What sounds too much like Cold War sniping erodes the basis for future cooperation, whether in intelligence on al-Qaida, in support for adventures such as that in Iraq, or in reaching agreement on economic or environmental issues.