MOSCOW, July 7, 2009
Obama Calls for Reshaping U.S.-Russia Ties
In Moscow Speech, President Seeks Fresh Start, Says Two Countries Not "Destined to be Antagonists"
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Play CBS Video Video Obama In Russia Seeking a strong and peaceful relationship with Russia, President Obama is especially pleased with the agreement of the two countries to reduce their nuclear arsenal. Chip Reid reports.
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Video U.S., Russia Nuclear Reduction President Obama said he wants to reset relations with Russia with the outline of an agreement to reduce both nations' nuclear arms. Bill Plante reports.
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President Barack Obama, gestures during his speech at the New Economic School, in Moscow, Tuesday, July 7, 2009. (AP)
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Photo Essay President Obama Visits Russia President Obama arrived to his first Moscow summit for a series of meetings sure to test his diplomatic skills
President Barack Obama, working to drastically reshape U.S. relations with a skeptical Russia, said Tuesday the two countries are not "destined to be antagonists."
"The pursuit of power is no longer a zero-sum game," Mr. Obama said, speaking in the Russian capital to graduates of the New Economic School but also hoping to reach the whole nation. "Progress must be shared." (Read the text of the full speech)
Mr. Obama used his speech to further define his view of the United States' place in the world and, specifically, to argue that his country shares compelling interests with Russia.
"Let me be clear: America wants a strong, peaceful and prosperous Russia," he declared.
Mr. Obama's upbeat comments came on the second day of his summit in Russia, where polls show people are wary of the United States and taking a skeptical measure of Mr. Obama himself. Earlier Tuesday, Obama held private breakfast talks with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at Putin's country home outside Moscow. The atmosphere seemed cordial, and both voiced hope for improved relations between Washington and Moscow.
After their meeting, Mr. Obama shared his thoughts about Putin to CBS News chief White House correspondent Chip Ried.
"He is smart, tough, shrewd... he is unsentimental," Mr. Obama said. (Read more from the interview.)
Putin, the former Russian president, also spoke warmly of his country's hopes for improved U.S. ties with Obama in the White House.
"With you we link all our hopes for the furtherance of relations between our two countries," the former KGB official said, sitting next to Obama.
In his speech, Mr. Obama said the interests of Russia and the United States generally coincide in five key areas: halting the spread of nuclear weapons, confronting violent extremists, ensuring economic prosperity, advancing the rights of people and fostering cooperation without jeopardizing sovereignty.
But he also sprinkled in challenges to Russia on its own soil, particularly in the area of democracy. U.S. officials are wary of Russia's increasingly hard-line stand on dissent.
"By no means is America perfect," Mr. Obama said. But he also said: "Independent media have exposed corruption at all levels of business and government. Competitive elections allow us to change course. ... If our democracy did not advance those rights, I as a person of African ancestry wouldn't be able to address you as an American citizen, much less a president."
Mr. Obama said the U.S. will not try to impose any kind of government on another country. But he argued for democratic values "because they are moral, and also because they work."
On Georgia and Ukraine - two nations that have sought NATO membership to the chagrin of neighboring Russia - Mr. Obama tried a diplomatic touch. He defended the steps nations must take to join the alliance, adding, "NATO seeks collaboration with Russia, not confrontation."
The U.S. and Russia have plenty of significant differences, but Mr. Obama suggested one of the biggest problems is fixable: deeply rooted and harmful assumptions from another era.
"There is the 20th century view that the United States and Russia are destined to be antagonists, and that a strong Russia or a strong America can only assert themselves in opposition to one another," Mr. Obama said. He dismissed that as inaccurate.
Mr. Obama said a genuine resetting of relations between the countries must go beyond the governments and include a partnership between peoples.
On the economy, Mr. Obama prodded nations to follow the rule of law.
"People everywhere should have the right to do business or get an education without paying a bribe," he said. "That is not an American idea or a Russian idea; that's how people and countries will succeed in the 21st century."
Mr. Obama's meeting with Putin lasted two hours - about 30 minutes longer than planned. They met a day after Mr. Obama held talks with President Dmitry Medvedev and they agreed that the two countries would seek by year's end to cut their nuclear stockpiles by up to a third. Obama told Putin he thought he had had "excellent discussions" on Monday with Medvedev.
But Mr. Obama also said he recognizes that "we may not agree on everything."
Medvedev, Putin's hand-picked successor, is the one getting the bulk of Obama's attention and negotiation time. All sides know Putin still holds much power, too, but Mr. Obama sought Monday to cast his meetings with both men as simply reaching out to the whole government.
The Putin session started the second day of Mr. Obama's Moscow mission. The goal: Engage the Russian people and persuade them that their interests coincide with those of Americans.
The challenge is more daunting in this country, where Mr. Obama is viewed with much greater skepticism than elsewhere and where the Russian people are wary of U.S. power.
Mr. Obama hoped to change minds with a speech that White House aides had billed in advance as a pillar of his foreign policy - on the same level with his call for a nuclear-free world while in Prague, or his outreach to the Muslim world in a speech in Cairo.
The matter of democracy is closely watched because the U.S. has watched warily as Russia's control on dissent and the press has only stiffened in recent years. The country is considered one of the most dangerous places for investigative journalists to work.
Before the speech Mr. Obama held what the White House characterized as a "good meeting" with former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. The U.S. leader, accompanied by Medvedev, also met with U.S. and Russian business leaders. Mr. Obama also met with a diverse collection of nongovernment leaders from both countries - health experts, environmentalists, reporters, human rights advocates - who held their own summit to re-engage engage bilateral cooperation.
Mr. Obama also was to meet with Russian opposition leaders.
On Wednesday he heads to a G-8 summit in Italy. While there he will meet Pope Benedict XVI, before moving on to Ghana where he plans to deliver what the White House describes as a major foreign policy speech.
©MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 90 CommentsSorry, the paid shill buck disbursement unit says you don't get extra shill bucks for responding twice to the same comment.
And wipe that drool off your chin.
And I should have know it was YOU when I read this. There's nobody that can make me SPIT and froth at the mouth, quite like you. : )
by erasmus111 July 7, 2009 1:57 PM PDT
I hate to tell you this, but thanks to Bush, you are already at the bottom. You can only go up from here.
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So what you're saying is, Obama doesn't need any skill to improve things.
No, that isn't what I was saying. You could just stay the same, but you are slowly starting to move back up.
So you can do your own search from now on.
Any time I have researched something on CBS, unless the wording is perfect, I can't find it. I can't even believe that it came up with just "sunspots".
by darthcheney345 July 7, 2009 1:08 PM PDT
I think a pre-emptive nuclear strike is the only sensible option.
Haha.
And I take a dim view of you calling Canada " a little tiny island". : P
by erasmus111 July 7, 2009 1:50 PM PDT
And what sunspot story is that? The one that you have made up in your head?
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Try doing a news search of "sunspot," nitwit.
Trying to make me do you research for you again?
Last time I have you a link, you fussed and fumed at me because you couldn't figure out how to use it.
So you can do your own search from now on.
Hahahahaha! I just started to clue in when I re-read this: "Obama is the worst president in 100 years." I was wondering at: " I haven't seen you in awhile", and a little bell was going off on something else, and then just when it was starting to click in, I read this one.
So how long have you had this name? I do remember seeing it before. I have been on here, just not as often. I hate this new format. I don't like the "reply to comment" thing. That means you have to keep going back over all the comments again.
I hate to tell you this, but thanks to Bush, you are already at the bottom. You can only go up from here.
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So what you're saying is, Obama doesn't need any skill to improve things.
All he could do is interfere with the recovery.
Which is exactly what he's doing.
Obama is the worst president in 100 years.
And what sunspot story is that? The one that you have made up in your head?
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Try doing a news search of "sunspot," nitwit.
Trying to make me do you research for you again?
Last time I have you a link, you fussed and fumed at me because you couldn't figure out how to use it.
So you can do your own search from now on.
SEVEN out of ELEVEN headline stories are about Michael Jackson.
ANYTHING to avoid facing the reality that OBAMA IS A TOTAL FAILURE.
The stock market is now LOWER than it opened on Jan 20.
Obama is the worst president in 100 years.
But the liberal media doesn't want anybody talking about it.
Well, the Romans used bread and circuses to amuse the public.
No bread from Obama - but a big circus over Michael Jackson instead.
OK, But, why can't he also want that for the USA TOO??? What, he was actually born in russia? Damn...at the very least he could decide to not try to destroy us and our freedom, don't you think?
Being a Canadian, I can assure you that no one is laughing at you anymore.
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Maybe nobody on your tiny island is.
But the people in Europe and England consider him a major bore and a clueless nerd.
Why not inform yourself before you start spouting your talking point propaganda show.
I think that you are the one that needs to start informing yourself before spewing your cr*p. You don't have a clue what other people think. England and Europe like Obama.
The loooooong slide to the bottom is now beginning...
I hate to tell you this, but thanks to Bush, you are already at the bottom. You can only go up from here.
erasmus, I haven't seen you around in a while.
So as well as being brain dead, you're blind too? That's too bad.
erasmus, check the comments on the sunspots story.
And what sunspot story is that? The one that you have made up in your head?
Because that's what you're STILL doing about the Republicans.
It's so nauseating to see you gushing and drooling over Obama, after seeing your savage attacks on Bush for the past 8 years.
I don't gush or drool, and I haven't been on here for 8 years. Dimwit.
And wipe that drool off your chin.
Because that's what you're STILL doing about the Republicans.
It's so nauseating to see you gushing and drooling over Obama, after seeing your savage attacks on Bush for the past 8 years.
But there was a reason to be attacking Bush. He's the one that has DESTROYED your country. Let's just hope it's even possible to repair the damage.
Back for more paid shill bucks today?
Sorry, but your political bias is so blatantly obvious it's sickening.
If Obama had come in, clicked his fingers and had the economy right itself, the national debt disappear, unemployment drop to zero AND Iraq and Afghanistan become peaceful democracies, within five minutes, you idiots of the right would still find something to ***** about - the color of his socks probably.
There is no doubt about that.
It's so nauseating to see you gushing and drooling over Obama, after seeing your savage attacks on Bush for the past 8 years.
I guess bowing to a Muslim King is not embarrassing either. :)
Our weak appeasing president --- Only 3.5 more years. YES WE CAN
You should consider yourself VERY lucky that you no longer have Bush. And that that other Warmonger didn't get in. Hillary would have been better, buy hey, what are ya gonna do? At least you have someone that is doing something for the PEOPLE. Someone that is at least TRYING to make things better.
Being a Canadian, I can assure you that no one is laughing at you anymore. People are looking at you with more respect.
Yes, it is amazing. : )
Obama is the worst president in 100 years.
He will make even President Hoover look good.
The loooooong slide to the bottom is now beginning...
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Maybe nobody on your tiny island is.
But the people in Europe and England consider him a major bore and a clueless nerd.
Why not inform yourself before you start spouting your talking point propaganda show.
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Yes, OBAMA THE WEAK just cancelled the F-22 fighter program, because he wanted to save money by terminating the most advanced air superiority jet fighter in history, that puts every other jet fighter in the world to shame, including the Soviet's.
It figures he'd declassify it and give away whatever secret technologies were developed to build the best fighter plane in history.
Thus proving what a total idiot he is AGAIN.
And proving how ignorant YOU ARE.
Obama is the worst president in 100 years.
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