Atlantic Community:Open Think Tank Article "Policy Workshop: Improving Russian-Western Relations "

November 16, 2010 | 2 comments | Print | E-Mail Your Opinion

Policy Workshop: Improving Russian-Western Relations

Editorial Team: This week we focus on Russia, specifically on what Germany can do to improve Russian-Western relations. As part of our student competition sponsored by the U.S. Mission to Germany, we are publishing six short-listed articles.

Our mission here at atlantic-community.org is to end the exclusivity of foreign policy discourse and give a voice to a new generation of thinkers as well as to strengthen the transatlantic partnership. Therefore, we are delighted to publish the analyses and recommendations of six students concerning Russia and the West.

Although the competition is open only to students of German universities, and German students enrolled in international universities, we would like to encourage all members to join in the debate nevertheless. Please tell us what you think of the students' analyses and policy recommendations.

Entrants were asked to engage with the following question and come up with practical policy recommendations:

“What can Germany do to improve Russian-Western relations?”

Publication schedule of the shortlisted articles:

Wednesday 10th:

Philipp Große (University of Bonn): "Western Values Key to Progress with Russia"

Alexandra Vasileva (Free University of Berlin): "A Clash of Discourses: Sovereignty vs. Integration"

Thursday 11th:

Matthias Conrad (Free University of Berlin): "Climate Change a Catalyst for a New Beginning"

Friday 12th:

Guli Babadjanova (Phillips University Marburg): "Acknowledge the Past and Invest in the Future"

Monday 15th:

Benjamin Hanke (University of Leipzig): "A United EU Approach Toward Moscow is Required"

Tuesday 16th:

Marcel Lewicki (University of Munich): "Change Through Rapprochement: Russia in a Greater Europe"

UPDATE: Thank you for all your contributions and comments on the above articles. We have just published the Memo entitled "The Reset: How Germany Can Set a New Tone for Western-Russian Engagement". This contains a convergence of views from all six participants and was the result of an intensively collaborative process involving a wiki, text chat and a conference call.

This competition is sponsored by the U.S. Mission to Germany.

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November 16, 2010

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As reported, Russia is somewhat concerned if the "Reset" button is shifted/tilted to China instead.

November 16, 2010

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Continued,

The outcome of the coming Summit of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC), along with the START I approval/disapproval/delay, i.e. the outcome of these two main events would have significant bearings on the direction the US-Russia "Reset" button goes, while, in the mean time, US and China are engaged in perhaps equally important issues w.r.t. currencies, trade, and northeast, southeast Asian issues, as well, to name a few.

In that, on the first case, peace, well-being, stability, developments, prosperity of central Asia and mid-east are of serious concern. And if the START I is stalled, it might provoke the two sides to compete and strike a new balance for a new generation of nukes, more powerful ones, to replace the old ones, which might have been under study already, since it might cost more to maintain the older generation nuclear weapons, perhaps with safety concerns as well, which were built years ago than to build new and more powerful ones.

And it is apparent that a "Reset" button is needed for China, as well. For resolving/easing the tensions in northeast Asia, including North Korea, and southeast Asia, the South Sea, just to name a few.

Thus, it's a dynamic and intensive situation and mutual interactions are important, a tilt toward China is a possibility, that is, if the NRC summit does not come out well, which might be unlikely, and US senate disapproves START I, which is also not likely.

Remains to be seen.