Having a Russian wife, I know that I would catch some wrath if I don’t address Obama’s recent visit to Russia. Many things were addressed while he was there, and I think a good amount of progress could be made between one of the biggest and most powerful nations east of the Atlantic. Generally speaking (and I say generally because there are always exceptions…), Russians are huge fans of Putin, and many could not fathom having a new leader, such as Medvedev. When I visited there late last year, there was still much public speculation with people I spoke with that Medvedev would put the wheels in motion to allow Putin to come back to office for an additional term through new legislation. Obviously, the guy has some pull around those parts.

Obama admittedly had some mending to do, from his foot-in-mouth comment of Putin having one foot still in the old ways of handling things. Whether this is true or not, there is still a visual amount of corruption and tough bureaucracy in Russia. I could see how Putin would be taken aback by a comment like this, but I also believe Obama made the right decision to agree to a breakfast at Putin’s forest dacha. I’m not sure about politicians in Russia, but I do know that with many members of the public, there’s nothing that a quiet meal with a few shots of vodka and a couple cigarettes can’t resolve. There are certainly many differences between our cultures - between a struggling capitalist country like the US, and a developing capitalist nation that has less than 2 decades of capitalist practices.

I do know that it is somewhat embarrassing to have positive relations with a nation as large and powerful as Russia, but not have them in the top 10 trade countries this year. Canada, China, Mexico, Japan, Germany, Japan…I would expect to see most of those countries consistently on this list. But the Netherlands and the US have traded about 16 billion dollars year to date as of April, which is easily set to exceed the 36 billion dollars traded between the US and Russia for all of 2008.

The bottom line good news? Obama is out there. He understands that relationships need to be symbiotic and both nations need to benefit from trade. He’s promoting this message consistently, and spoke about this point several times throughout his visit in Russia. The bottom line bad news? We have a long hard road in front of us for accomplishing this. Companies are willing, but establishing trade deals that both sides can agree on is a difficult hurdle. Some of the statements made by our former administration tore down many of the relations we had politically. It looks like Obama is helping us get back on track with Putin and Medvedev, but we need some economical faith, too, which is hard to come by in these times. There is certainly a lot each country has to offer, though.

Some interesting links:
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5640IZ20090707?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j1dly3YdjszsjVv_QNRkYgezVoEA

http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/top/dst/current/balance.html

-Sully