An Alternative Voice
I spent my junior year of college living abroad in Russia, mostly in St. Petersburg, but also frequenting Moscow and traveling around the former Soviet Union. I attended Smolny College - a collaboration between Bard College in upstate New York and St. Petersburg State University. Smolny's curriculum is taught in both Russian and English, and most of the professors are Russian. As an international studies major, with a focus in international security, the perspective regarding international relations that I received in Russia was wholly different from what I got in the United States.
In fact, if I could pinpoint one crucial thing that I learned from my experience in Russia - in fact, from my entire college experience - it would be this: the United States has a uniquely oblivious and self-absorbed political and social mindset. It is difficult to describe this to someone who has never been outside of that mindset. I could point out the frequently repeated mantra that people in the rest of the world never seem to think that we Americans are quite as awesome as we say we are (or, 'everyone hates us', as a friend so succinctly put it). That is not quite accurate, however. The United States military - if nothing else - commands respect, and there are many countries who genuinely admire our accomplishments and attitude (my extended family is Filipino, and trust me, they love Americans in the Philippines). The most accurate analogy that I can draw is that the United States is like a smart, charismatic, headstrong teenager. Self-absorbed, ignorant of the world outside our limited experience, convinced that we are 'the shit', and perhaps outwardly respectful but inwardly eye-rolling of those that think they 'know better.' We ignore the rules laid out for everyone else, and do whatever we want, convinced that 'we really know what's going on.' And even when presented with the sad consequences of our decisions, we refuse to acknowledge that it is our fault. We trust in our own good looks (economy), charm (soft power), and charisma (military) to smooth everything over.
Never has this attitude been more apparent than during the recent UN conference, where Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Obama gave competing speeches to the UN. Although both are good speeches, they differ in their clarity and substance. President Obama's speech is full of vague platitudes, lots of 'let's move forward and not look back' type talk, and lots of 'we, the United States.' President Putin, on the other hand, gives a speech that is eminently clear, focused, and full of 'we, the United Nations.' He draws clear parallels between historical Nazism and present day ISIL; acknowledges frankly the Soviet Union's culpability in causing disasters through their policy of 'exporting culture'; and criticizes the United States (not by name, but nonetheless explicitly) for our repeated bypassing or manipulation of UN mandates for our own purposes. And - quite frankly - he hits the nail on the head.
Putin may be a corrupt dictator, but he is an incredibly savvy politician with a clear and relatively objective grasp of international relations. Therein lies the difference between Obama and Putin - indeed the difference between the United States and the rest of the world. Putin can identify and acknowledge the global state of affairs in an objective manner, while still advocating ruthlessly for his own country. He can acknowledge where his country's policies have failed, and where they were enacted out of political necessity, not idealism. He can also acknowledge the higher power of international law and an international governing body. Obama, on the other hand, continues to operate within that US mindset - a mindset that does not acknowledge the authority of any higher international law, and can view the global state of affairs only from its own subjective point of view. When 'we are right' is the only true foreign policy mandate, there is no room for other voices, or even the truth.
