Spring Break
Political science professor offers insight on foreign relations during online discussion
Kathleen McKiernan
Issue date: 2/27/09 Section: News
02/27/09 - As part of a new online public forum for foreign policy discussion, the University of Denver's Center for New Politics and Policy sought out the insights of University of Rhode Island political science professor Nicolai Petro on U.S.-Russian relations.
Senior policy fellow at the CNPP, Webster Brooks III, comments regularly on international affairs, and produces the "Brooks Sunday Global Review," which is broadcast nationwide every Sunday at 8 p.m. through XM Sirius satellite radio.
Originally organized as the University of Denver's African-American studies center, the center is now expanding its agenda to focus on new opportunities that arise in American politics from the election of the country's first African-American president, Barack Obama.
An expert on Russian politics, and a former attaché to the U.S. embassy in Moscow, Petro discussed political development in Russia, and how the U.S. should respond to Russia's foreign policy during his interview with Brooks on Sunday.
He offered counterarguments to Ariel Cohen, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., who had spoken on the same topic the previous week, as part of Brooks' two-part series on Russia. While Cohen argued that Russia views America as a Cold War adversary, Petro sees a chance to improve relations between America and Russia.
"There are interesting new opportunities for improving US-Russian relations, but it would have to begin with a reassessment of Russian initiatives by the U.S. because, if the current administration uses the same assessment as the Bush, there will be no improvement. The [U.S.] can't keep lecturing at Russia. We need to start treating each other as equals," Petro said.
Petro said the United States needs Russia more than they need it because of the country's natural resources.
"We need to be able to access them on a commercial basis, and we need Russian support for U.S. involvement in Central Asia because they're Russia's neighbors. The reason we lost the base in Kyrgyzstan is because we never paid attention to why they were upset with us," Petro said.
Senior policy fellow at the CNPP, Webster Brooks III, comments regularly on international affairs, and produces the "Brooks Sunday Global Review," which is broadcast nationwide every Sunday at 8 p.m. through XM Sirius satellite radio.
Originally organized as the University of Denver's African-American studies center, the center is now expanding its agenda to focus on new opportunities that arise in American politics from the election of the country's first African-American president, Barack Obama.
An expert on Russian politics, and a former attaché to the U.S. embassy in Moscow, Petro discussed political development in Russia, and how the U.S. should respond to Russia's foreign policy during his interview with Brooks on Sunday.
He offered counterarguments to Ariel Cohen, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., who had spoken on the same topic the previous week, as part of Brooks' two-part series on Russia. While Cohen argued that Russia views America as a Cold War adversary, Petro sees a chance to improve relations between America and Russia.
"There are interesting new opportunities for improving US-Russian relations, but it would have to begin with a reassessment of Russian initiatives by the U.S. because, if the current administration uses the same assessment as the Bush, there will be no improvement. The [U.S.] can't keep lecturing at Russia. We need to start treating each other as equals," Petro said.
Petro said the United States needs Russia more than they need it because of the country's natural resources.
"We need to be able to access them on a commercial basis, and we need Russian support for U.S. involvement in Central Asia because they're Russia's neighbors. The reason we lost the base in Kyrgyzstan is because we never paid attention to why they were upset with us," Petro said.
