Obama cannot call for democracy in Islamic societies while altogether ignoring its retreat in Russia. More generally, Americans, and American presidents, like to steer clear of the vocabulary of realpolitik, a language redolent of the Old Europe against which America decisively rebelled centuries ago.
The likelihood, then, is for stalemate in the contest between Obama's campaign for the hearts of the Russians and their demand to be free of American meddling in their old imperial stomping grounds.
The Russian people are probably not going to come away with a pronounced negative view of Obama -- he is acutely sensitive to cultural protocol wherever he goes and has yet to make a wrong step. But as for his global charm offensive -- this is where it comes to a halt.
No Charm Offensive in Russia
Polls show that Russia is one of the nations whose citizens are least interested in Barack Obama, and pessimistic that his leadership will head toward positive changes in international relations. That means that if Obama were hoping to survive on the charm offensive, pitching an over-the-heads speech along the lines of the Cairo approach to the Muslim world, he will be disappointed, argues Paul Starobin on CNN.
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Actually, his image is used for marketing ice cream in Russia:
http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/obama-ice-cream
Oh, yes, Obama can ignore human rights issues in Russia. He has already thrown human rights under the bus in China when Hillary visited in February and made clear human rights wouldn't be an issue in exchange for their continued goodwill in buying our debt. The Russians see the hypocrisy.
http://experts.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/02/25/hillary_clintons_beijing_gaffe
More ominous is his naivete as AP reported today:
WASHINGTON (AP) — On the eve of a trip to Moscow, President Barack Obama chided Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday for keeping “one foot in the old ways of doing business.” By contrast, he said Putin’s handpicked successor as president understands that Cold War behavior is outdated.
He hasn't figured out the real nature of the Putin-Medvedev “Good Cop-Bad Cop” charade. Reagan would have figured that out by now.
DIMA:
Are you sure it's ice cream that is being marketed and not racism?
The intitial signs are that Obama has no interest in a charm offensive, but rather is going to attack Russian barbarism head on with a wicked divide-and-conquer strategy to split Putin from Medvedev and Medvedev from the people by directly attacking Putin and meeting with significant opposition figures. He's already given an interview to Novaya Gazeta.
http://www.rferl.org/content/Obamas_Kremlin_Gambit/1768963.html
The Russophobes are cheering:
http://larussophobe.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/editorial-obama-vs-putin-round-1/
Maybe Obama really believes his rhetoric after all?