Analysis Of US Foreign Policy With Russia — страница 3

with Russia, and not expand NATO until U.S.-Russian security relations are improved. Currently, the U.S. will not make any further negotiations until the Russian Duma ratifies the START II treaty; however, they should change their perspective. The U.S. should immediately start formal negotiations on START III because it is estimated that “Russia’s operational warheads will decline to a thousand or less in the next decade due to lack of funds (Payne). Under the current U.S. policy, the number of strategic arsenals is yet to be decreased. If the Russians ratify START II, this will help improve security and resume momentum in regarding the stockpile of nuclear weapons (Sestanovich). Since Russia sees the expansion as a threat mainly to them and their security, the U.S. should

stop helping the Baltic states–Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia, for NATO membership. The U.S. can avoid worsening their relations with Russia. Russia’s economy is also in a dismal state and is getting worse. Although the statistics agencies reported a growth in industrial output in 1997, real profits in industry were down by five percent. Almost fifty percent of the industrial enterprises reported losses, a dramatic jump from the twenty-seven percent two years ago. As part of its economic policy, Washington had supported free trade policies that eliminated barriers to U.S. imports. As a result, Russia opened greatly to the West, from 1990-1994, imports grew from 14-39% in retail, but with few markets and a decreasing of the domestic market, Russian industries have fell

dramatically (Gaddy). Investment was down for at least seven years in a row (In 1997, the overall level of capital investment in the economy’s production sectors was only seventeen percent of what it was in 1990. In metalworking and engineering, it was an unbelievable five percent. The Russian standard of living has also fallen dramatically. The gap between the poor and the rich has widened. There no longer remained a system that would provide for the increasing number of the poor working class. While the western countries have increased their life expectancy rate, it is actually on the decline in Russia (Feffer). It seems as though the U.S. focused on the wrong basis for international economic integration. The United States supports Russia’s accession to global economic

organizations such as the WTO, OECD, the Paris Club, and the Asian Development Bank. They are the largest foreign investors in Russia, with portfolio and direct investments of approximately $3 billion. They continue to encourage the Russians to make progress on legislation and administrative changes necessary to create a more favorable investment climate for foreign and domestic investors in Russia ( US ). The government also supports hundreds of joint programs, many of them conducted through the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission (GCC). The eighth GCC meeting in February 1997 revealed the development of several new ideas: a new regional investment initiative to attract more foreign and domestic capital to the regions of Russia; joint work to protect the marine ecosystem near Sakhalin

Island; an initiative to support cooperation among small businesses; and a program to raise public awareness in Russia of women’s reproductive health issues. The eight working committees of the Commission deal with business development, defense conversion, agricultural, space, energy, health, and environmental issues. In addition, the Commission provides a forum for high-level discussions of security, nonproliferation, economic, and other priority issues ( US ). However, it seems as though giving Russia a handout would only encourage Russia on its destructive course. The U.S. government has promised too much, and delivered little. Whatever was delivered was worthless or insignificant because it went mostly into private sector development, which did not help many people,

(Wallander). The United States has provided billions of dollars in aid for economic reforms, or privatization. The Board of Directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) considered granting Russia a $10.2 billion loan, and the U.S.- run Export-Import Bank may provide an additional $1 billion to boost Russia’s flagging civilian aircraft industry. President Clinton strongly endorses the IMF loan, hoping it will bolster Yeltsin’s faltering presidency. On the contrary, the beneficiaries of these reforms have been a small group of political and economic power brokers called the Chubias Clan. “The Chubias Clan-not the Russian economy as a whole-has been the chief beneficiary of economic restructuring funding from the U.S. Agency for International Developments (Wedel). The