The Blog of Glenn McLaurin

A bit tardy, perhaps, but I was recently tasked with researching a variety of issues and solutions addressed by President-elect Barack Obama’s platform when I stumbled across the foreign policy issues area of his site. There I found his recommendations for “Meeting the Challenge of a Resurgent Russia,” which addressed the US-Russian relations post-Russo-Georgian War — the same topic I researched and analyzed a few weeks ago.

What follows is a brief comparison between Obama’s proposed policies and the conclusions I came to after several days of research. I hardly think that this qualifies me as an expert on Eastern European geopolitics or other nonsense, but I also believe that this is more than a simple coincidence… rather, it proves to me that solid facts and evidence compose the foundation upon which effective policy is built. I have included below short summaries of larger recommendations; bold text is what I consider similar conclusions.

Obama’s Policy Recommendation:

The core components of this strategy include:

• Supporting democratic partners and upholding principles of sovereignty throughout Europe and Eurasia while working proactively to gauge effectively the intentions of actors in the region, and address tensions between countries before they escalate into military confrontations.

• Strengthening the Transatlantic alliance, so that we deal with Russia with one, unified voice.

• Helping to decrease the dependence of our allies and partners in the region on Russian energy.

• Engaging directly with the Russian government on issues of mutual interest, such as countering nuclear proliferation, reducing our nuclear arsenals, expanding trade and investment opportunities, and fighting Al Qaeda and the Taliban; and also reaching out directly to the Russian people to promote our common values.

• Keeping the door open to fuller integration into the global system for all states in the region, including Russia, that demonstrates a commitment to act as responsible, law-abiding members of the international community.

The executive summary of my policy brief:

The secessionist states of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, historically supported by Russia, have threatened the stability of the Republic of Georgia for years. The August 2008 Russo-Georgian War served as the crescendo of these tension; in the end, Georgia suffered tremendous losses while Russia declared the sovereignty of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Closer examination of Russia’s disproportionate tactics and unilateral redrawing of boundaries reveals a play to increase the nation’s sphere of influence in post-Soviet space; in response, Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, recognized and supported as a pro-democracy leader by the Bush administration, has appealed to the West for redevelopment aid.

…

The United States needs not to return to a Cold War mindset or reactionary policies, but should instead embrace recent events as an opportunity to develop relations with a modern Russia. The US can still aid Georgia, but re-opening necessary arms reduction talks with Russia will lay the foundation for future security policy agreements, and both nations will become stronger in this global economy by developing plans for shared economic development.

As always, I welcome feedback, comments, and criticism. Thank you for your support.

If we affirm one moment, we thus affirm not only ourselves but all existence. For nothing is self-sufficient, neither in us ourselves nor in things; and if our soul has trembled with happiness and sounded like a harp string just once, all eternity was needed to produce this one event – and in this single moment of affirmation all eternity was called good, redeemed, justified, and affirmed.

—Nietzsche, Friedrich, The Will to Power

Perhaps more than any other concept,“life-affirming’ best describes what I experienced at the second meeting of the State Farm Youth Advisory Board. Cold medicine may be influencing my inclination towards such a resolute statement by Nietzsche (especially considering my general ignorance of philosophy), but the weekend I spent in Chicago absolutely opened my eyes to what direction I have been traveling for the past few years.

I opened this blog to serve, in part, as a sounding board for my concerns and doubts about the decisions I have made and how they will ultimately affect my future. In light of this original intent, I am delighted to announce that I consider my involvement with State Farm to be an experience in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts — that is, the work I did through high school and my summer breaks has led to a truly great opportunity. I am more certain than ever that I have made the right decision in my pursuit of a public policy-related field and my dedication to youth advocacy and civic engagement programs.

The next set of challenges are just now appearing on the horizon, but I cannot wait for the opportunity to face them.

My fellow blogger, Joseph Kelly, recently sent me an email asking how I was getting along and adjusting to college. This reminded me of how absent I have been from my blog, and in replying, for the first time in weeks, forced me to (briefly) write about what has been going on in my (scholastic) life.  My response, in part:

Since entering [college], I have been faced with a bit of an inner struggle: the majority of my friends are absolutely spinning, trying to figure out what majors they want to pursue and what they want to do with their lives; I, on the other hand, want to embrace uncertainty and throw caution to the wind, even though I have a pretty solid grasp on how I will spend the next few years.  My primary major is Public Policy Analysis and I am pursuing a minor in Urban Studies and Planning — and due to the fact that classes can count twice and I will have openings in my schedule, I just picked up a second major in Peace, War, and Defense Studies. Honestly, I believe that PWAD sounds like the most useless major of all time (with the exception of Folklore), but it is essentially a history-intensive International Relations program, and includes numerous courses I would have most likely taken for fun.

My blog, like those maintained by so many other [university] students, has slowed down considerably since August. College has taught me a lot about how much I don’t know, and while I haven’t stopped thinking, my interests have changed and I just haven’t had time to write down my thoughts.

I did not elaborate on what my interests have changed to, largely because I am still unsure. Until typing out this post, however, I have spent the last three hours researching present-day US-Russian relations, including the South Ossetia War and the backing of Georgia by the United States, the installation of a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, and the role of Russia in the World Trade Organization*. I have worked on other papers throughout the semester, but this feels like the first college-level assignment that has challenged me, in part because I have chosen to challenge myself.  The term paper is a simple policy brief, to which I could have addressed any issue, from immigration to needle exchange programs.  I honestly believe that I could have chosen almost any topic, included a fair amount of BS, and achieved a mediocre to adequate grade.

Instead, I have realized this as a great opportunity to learn about a major issue that the US will have to continue to confront for years to come.  I don’t have the answers, and I may be in over my head.  For the moment though, I’m having fun.  Here’s hoping my work pays off.

*Pifer, Steven. “What Does Russia Want?” Brookings Institute

What a night…