Foreign Policy

President Trump’s travels to Europe to see our NATO allies and UK Prime Minister May before meeting Vladimir Putin, provide us with an opportunity to take a closer look at Russia:

US/Russia Relations

• Friend, foe or something else (like Trump’s “competitor”) to the U.S.?
• How much of a risk to the U.S. is Russia? Does Russia have the wherewithal to be more than an “irritant” to the U.S.?
• Are there areas in which the two countries should continue (or expand) cooperation–e.g., sharing intelligence on terrorist activities–or should we become more adversarial?
• What is the best strategy to get Russia “back in line” vis-a-vis issues such as Ukraine, Crimea, Georgia, Syria, election meddling, etc.?
• If you were advising Trump (or, Hillary Clinton if you can’t imagine advising The Donald) prior to the Putin meeting, what would be your advice?

NATO-Europe/Russia Relations

• To what degree are NATO’s actions provocative to Russia?
• Do Putin’s policies reflect broad Russian themes or do Russian policies revolve around Putin (i.e., subject to change when he’s no longer in power)?
• Given their proximity to Russia, how should the Europeans deal with Russia on a commercial basis? To what degree should politics (and defense interests) influence these commercial relationships (i.e., natural gas imports to Europe, export of “strategic” machinery or other goods to Russia)?

I’m sure we’ll find lots to talk about on Monday. If you’d like to get started “studying” early, here’s a NYT op-ed piece published today.

As a reminder, the library is closed today, so there will be no Beyond Labels meeting.

Next week, we’ve agreed to discuss “Democracy” in the context of other countries and cultures:

• Is supporting democracy in all countries a sensible policy?
• Is that policy beneficial to U.S. interests:
  • Short term?
  • Long term?
• Is democracy a good fit with all cultures? If not, should the mode of government change, or should the culture be changed?
• Over what time period?
• And what do we mean by “democracy” in this context?

We’ll turn our attention back to foreign policy tomorrow with a discussion focused on Turkey and the Kurds.

The US considers both to be our allies, but there is a huge amount of historical friction between them, with the Turkish government labeling Kurdish groups and individuals as “terrorists.” On the other hand, Peshmerga fighters have been some of the most effective local forces in combating ISIS.

Some of these frictions have driven Turkey closer to Russia, which has become a (more) significant presence in neighboring Syria. But they’re still members of NATO, and the US relies on Turkey for logistics, staging and assets in the region.

How should the US navigate the many issues arising out of our presence in Iraq, “Kurdistan,” Turkey and Syria?